Today, the second survey of 2012 for the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index regarding February came out: this survey suggests the U.S. manufacturing conditions continued to expand and at a slightly faster pace in February; the Philly Fed index increased from +7.3 in January to +10.2 in February. Prices of manufacturing goods also increased as the manufacturing costs edged up. Currently, the American stock markets are traded up.
This survey also shows the general employment conditions improved again during the time of the survey. If this indicator reflects an estimate of the growth rate of the U.S economy, it may suggest that in January the U.S continued to grow at a slightly higher pace than in the December.
In the previous month, the news of the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index didn’t influence traders of stocks, forex and commodities; this may have been because the Philly Fed index didn’t change much from the previous month. This might also indicate that this month’s survey won’t have much of an effect on the financial markets as well.
Currently the American stock markets including the S&P500 and Dow are slightly increasing, while gold price is traded down.
Current gold price, short term futures (March 2012 delivery) is traded at $1,721.8 per t oz. a $6.3 decrease as of 16:26*.
Current silver price, short term futures (March 2012 delivery) is traded at $33.125 per t oz. a $0.283 decrease as of 16:26*.
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (March 2012 delivery) is traded up by 0.89%, to $101.79 per barrel as of 16:28*.
Euros to US dollar exchange rate is currently traded up at 1.3082 a 0.12% increase as of 16:44*.
*(GMT)
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