The U.S. Leading Indicators Index published by the Conference Board today showed a decline in the month of February. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, registered a 0.4 percent decline in February following a revised 
increase of 0.1 percent in January. February’s decrease was less than the market forecasts which were predicting a decline of 0.6 percent for the month.
Consumer expectations, weekly jobless claims, stock prices and average weekly manufacturing hours were all negative sectors impacting the leading index. Real money supply, building permits, interest rate spread, supplier deliveries, 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 0.4 percent in February after falling in January by 0.6 percent while the lagging index decreased by 0.4 percent after declining by 0.3 percent in January.
Weekly Jobless Claims fall.
Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims fell in the week that ended on March 14th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 646,000 unemployed workers, a decline of 12,000 from the week prior that had 658,000 initial jobless claims. The 4-week moving average of unemployed workers rose by 3,750 from the prior week to 654,750 workers.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continued claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending March 7th grew by 185,000 workers to a total of 5,288,000 unemployed workers. The four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 118,750 workers from the previous week to 5,251,250 workers. The prior week’s moving average had registered 5,132,500.
Dollar continues decline in Forex Trading.
The U.S. dollar continued its sharp decline today in forex trading a day after the US Federal Reserve pledged to increase new spending measures to help stimulate the U.S. economy.
Today’s trading saw the U.S. currency falling against all of the major currencies.
The euro gained versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has advanced from its 1.3455 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3659 near the end of the U.S. trading session at 4:50pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound climbed today as the GBP/USD has rose from its 1.4214 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.4507 usd per gbp. The dollar has declined versus the Japanese yen and trading at 94.60 after opening at the day at the 96.01 exchange rate.
The dollar fell today versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.2393 after opening at 1.2466.
The dollar has gained against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.1236 after opening at 1.1431 today while the dollar has also been weaker against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.6854 after an 0.6754 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.5538 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.5415.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro continued to advance today versus the US dollar in forex trading after making a dramatic spike yesterday following the US Fed’s announcement of new spending measures.
