The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index improved to -1.9 points in September. Early expectations stood on a score of -4.1 points, up from -7.1 recorded last month.
EUR/USD remains depressed: after failing to recapture the 1.2960 line, the pair slid towards the 1.29 line. In Europe, consumer confidence dropped to -26, Â worse than -24 that was expected and worse than -25 seen in the previous month.
The manufacturing sector has been the weak spot of the US economy of late. The Philly index is important as the figure relates to the current month – a very early indicator.
In addition, some consider it to be a good indicator for the ISM Manufacturing PMI. The NY Fed Index, published earlier, is less accurate.
The negative number represents worsening conditions. On the positive side, new orders rose to a positive figure: 1.0 after -5.5 beforehand.
The CB Leading Index dropped by 0.1%, as expected. It rose by 0.4% in the previous month.
For more on the euro, see the EURUSD forecast.
