Philly Manufacturing Business Survey falls in April. Weekly Jobless claims rise. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

April 17, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Philly Manufacturing Business Survey falls in April. Weekly Jobless claims rise.

The Philadelphia Manufacturing Business Index released today by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed that manufacturing activity in Philadelphia has fallen as its April survey fell to its lowest level since 2001. The Philly general business diffusion index dropped to a -24.9 in April after March's score of -17.4. The April fall in the survey was more than expected by market forecasts which had predicted a -15.0 survey score. A negative score is considered a contraction in that specific business sector and the general business index has now been in negative territory for five consecutive months. Demand for new orders was -18.8 for April, a significant decline from -9.3 in March. The current shipments index decreased from -6.3 to -8.0, unfilled orders increased from -18.7 to -16.8, delivery times increased from -10.3 to 4.2 and the inventories index dropped from -13.5 to -26.2. The Philadelphia Manufacturing Survey is a measure of manufacturers in the Third Federal Reserve District and has been conducted since 1968.

US Jobless Claims increase by 17,000.

U.S. new jobless claims increased for the week ending April 12th by 17,000 job seekers to a seasonally adjusted total of 372,000. This is up from a revised total of 355,000 claims the week prior according to data released today by the U.S. Labor Department. A four week moving average of unemployment claims showed a decrease of 750 workers to a rate of 376,000. Workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 5th increased by 26,000 to 2,984,000, up from the week before which saw 2,958,000. A four week moving average of continuing claims increased 29,750 from last week to 2,936,500. The prior week's moving average registered 2,906,750.

Tags: philadelphia fed, manufacturing survey, jobless claims, unemployment, us forex news

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