Philly Fed Index Grows Slightly Slower in April

Today, the fourth survey of 2012 for the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index for April was released: this survey estimates the U.S. manufacturing conditions continue to grow but at a slightly slower pace in April than in March; the Philly Fed index edged up from +12.5 in March to +8.5 in April. Indexes of prices also slightly increased during the month even as there are more price pressures. Currently, the American stock markets are traded slightly down. 

This survey also estimates the general employment condition has improved again during the time of the survey.  If this indicator provides a good estimate of the economic progress of the U.S, it may suggest that during April the U.S continued to grow but at a slightly slower pace than in the March 2012.

In the previous monthly survey, the news of the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the financial markets such as stocks, forex and commodities perhaps because there wasn’t a major change in the index. Thus, the news of this index may moderately affect the direction of the financial markets during today’s report as well.

Currently the major American stock market indexes including the S&P500 and Dow are moderately falling; major energy commodities prices such as crude oil prices and also declining, while precious metals prices e.g. gold and silver prices and the U.S dollar is edging up.

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