Forex Fundamental News - U.S. New jobless claims down. Philly Manufacturing Index falls.

February 21, 2008 - Forex Economic News

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims down.

U.S. new jobless claims decreased last week by 9,000 people to a seasonally adjusted total of 349,000 from a revised total of 358,000 claims the week before according to data released today by the U.S. Labor Department. A four week moving average of unemployment claims showed an increase of 10,750 workers to a rate of 360,500. Workers receiving continuing unemployment benefits for the week ending February 9th increased by 48,000 to 2,784,000, up from the week before which saw 2,736,000. A four week moving average of continuing claims increased 28,750 from last week to 2,752,500. Last week's moving average registered 2,723,750.

Philly Manufacturing Business Survey.

The Philadelphia Manufacturing Index released today by the Philadelphia Fed showed a big drop for February in its business outlook survey. The Philly general business diffusion index fell to -24.0 in February after January's score of -20.9. February's -24.0 level is the lowest reading in the survey since 2001. A negative score is considered a contraction in that area or sector. December showed a positive score of 1.9 before January's negative score. Demand for new orders was -10.9 for February, an improvement over -15.2 in January. The current shipments index dropped from -2.3 to -12.2, unfilled orders declined from -6.2 to -10.9, delivery times fell from -3.1 to -7.6 and the inventories index fell from -11.7 to -13.0. Index increases for February were seen in the areas of current employment which increased from -1.5 to 2.5 and the average employee workweek which saw an increase from -16.1 in January to -3.9 in February.

The future outlook of the manufacturing growth also declined in the February. The general activity index outlook on 6 months from now registered -16.9, a big drop from January's 5.2 score. February's negative future outlook level is the lowest level since 1990 and the first negative score since January 2001.

Tags: jobless claims, philadelphia business outlook survey, philadelphia fed, us department of labor

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