US Leading Indicators decline. Philadelphia Fed Survey improves. Jobless Claims fall. USD rises in Fx Trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

December 18, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Leading Indicators decline. Philadelphia Fed Survey improves. Jobless Claims fall. USD rises in Fx Trading.

The U.S. Leading Indicators Index published by the Conference Board today showed a decline in the month of November. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, registered a 0.4 percent decline in November following a revised decline of 0.9 USD gains in forex trading percent in October. November's decrease equaled market forecasts that were predicting a decline of 0.4 percent for the month.

Building permits, supplier deliveries, consumer expectations, weekly jobless claims, stock prices and average weekly manufacturing hours were all negative sectors impacting the leading index. Real money supply, interest rate spread, manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods & materials and manufacturers' orders for nondefense capital goods helped positively contribute to the leading index.

The coincident index, which is viewed as a measure of the current economic activity, decreased by 0.3 percent in November after increasing in October while the lagging index increased by 0.1 percent after showing no change in October.

Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey improves.

The Philadelphia Manufacturing Index released today by the Philadelphia Fed showed improvement in December from November but still remained in declining conditions. The Philadelphia business outlook survey showed that the general business diffusion index registered a - 32.9 score in December following a -39.3 in November. November's -39.3 level had marked the lowest level for the index in over 18 years. A negative score is considered a contraction in that area or sector while a positive score signals growth. The score for December surpassed market forecasts that were expecting a -40.5 score for the month.

Demand for new orders increased by six points in December to a -25.2 score following a -31.4 score in November while the employment index marked its lowest level since 1982 by declining four points this month. The employment average workweek also fell by 12 points in December. The index for shipments dropped by 10 points this month after holding steady in November while the indexes for unfilled orders and delivery times fell slightly for the month.

The prices paid index fell 3 points in December after declining by 38 points in November while the prices received index also saw a decline of 22 points after falling 21 points last month. The future outlook of the manufacturing growth also continued to decline in December as the general activity index outlook on 6 months from now registered -14.5, a drop of 4.1 points from November's -10.4 score.

Weekly Jobless Claims fall.

Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims fell in the week that ended on December 13th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 554,000 unemployed workers, a decline of 21,000 from the week prior while the 4-week moving average of unemployed workers rose by 2,750 from the prior week to 543,750.

Workers seeking continued claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending December 6th fell by 47,000 workers to total 4,384,000 unemployed workers. A four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 92,000 workers from last week to 4,226,000. The prior week's moving average had registered 4,134,000.

Dollar gains today in Forex Trading.

The dollar has made gains in fx trading today as the U.S. currency has gained against the euro, pound, yen, loonie, aussie, kiwi and Swiss franc after falling for most of the week.

The euro has been weaker verses the dollar today as the EUR/USD has declined from its 1.4434 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.4301 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 2:39pm ET. The British pound has fallen today as the GBP/USD has dropped substantially from its 1.5542 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.5046 usd per gbp. The dollar has advanced verses the Japanese yen and trading at 89.40 after opening at 87.73.

The dollar has advanced today verses the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.2012. The USD/CAD has gained about 100 pips from its 1.1911 opening. The dollar has gained against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0769 after opening at 1.0705 today while the dollar has also been stronger against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.6963 after an 0.7043 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.5901 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.5928.

EUR/USD Chart - The Euro falling today verses the US dollar in forex trading to below 1.4300(Hourly Chart).

Today's Forex & Currency Trading Chart

tags: usd, leading indicators, philly fed, jobless claims, forex trading, fx

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