U.S. Manufacturing data, released today by the Institute for Supply Management, showed that manufacturing activity failed to grow in April for the fifteenth straight month but improved to its highest level since September. April’s ISM Report On 
Business index reading for economic activity climbed to its highest level since late 2008 at 40.1 percent following March’s 36.3 percent level.
The April score surpassed economic forecasts that were expecting the ISM index reading to register 38.4 percent. A score above 50 percent is considered to be growth and less than 50 percent is considered to be a contraction.
Norbert J. Ore, chair of the ISM Business Survey Committee, commented on the report saying, “The decline in the manufacturing sector continues to moderate. After six consecutive months below the 40-percent mark, the PMI, driven by the New Orders Index at 47.2 percent, shows a significant improvement. While this is a big step forward, there is still a large gap that must be closed before manufacturing begins to grow once again.”
Just about all of the manufacturing sectors tracked for April showed improvement over the March report with the exception of customer inventories which decreased by 4.5 percent for the month.
New orders, production, employment, supplier deliveries, inventories, prices and the backlog of orders all showed increased readings for April. The exports index registered a 5.0 percent increase for April while imports also increased by 9.0 percent.
UMichigan/Reuters Consumer Sentiment survey rises.
The final consumer sentiment survey by the University of Michigan and Reuters also rose to its highest level since September in April. The consumer sentiment survey increased to a 65.1 score in April after a score of 57.3 in March and recorded the largest monthly rise since October 2006. April’s score surpassed market forecasts that had predicted the final monthly survey would come in at a 61.9 score.
The expectations index, which measures future economic sentiment, increased from 53.5 in March to 63.1 in April. The current conditions index, which measures current economic sentiment, increased from 63.3 in March to 68.3 in April. The 1-year inflation expectation gained a bit from 2.6 in March to 2.8 in April.
Richard Curtin, Director of the survey, commented on the survey that, “Two-thirds of all consumers anticipated that the economic policies of the Obama administration will be effective in improving national economic conditions, with most of the gains anticipated over the next several years.” On the current economic landscape Curtin furthered that, “Consumers continued to report that their finances remained dismal and their buying plans were still on hold due to concerns about their future job and income prospects.”
Forex Market – US Dollar falling in Forex today.
The U.S. dollar has been a bit lower in forex trading today from the beginning of the day at 00:00 GMT. The dollar has fallen versus the euro, pound, franc, aussie, kiwi and loonie while gaining versus the yen.
The euro has advanced slightly versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has risen from today’s 1.3253 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at approximately 1.3268 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 2:32pm EST according to currency data by Oanda.
The British pound has increased today versus the American currency from the 1.4775 opening to trading at 1.4907 dollars per pound.
The dollar has gained against the Japanese yen as the USD/JPY has gained from its 98.89 opening to trading at 99.38 yen per usd. The dollar has fallen against the Canadian loonie dollar after opening at 1.1929 earlier today to trading later at 1.1836.
The USD is falling against the Swiss franc after opening at 1.1392 to trading at the 1.1355 exchange rate.
The Australian dollar has advanced as the AUD/USD has gone from 0.7266 to trading at 0.7313 while the New Zealand dollar has climbed from 0.5649 usd per nzd to trading at 0.5697.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro trading edging up a bit against the US Dollar in Forex Trading today and looking to gain for the second straight week versus the USD(Hourly Chart).
