A bit of U.S. good news: Philly Fed index up

The U.S. economy finally received a sliver of good news Thursday as the index of manufacturing conditions compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia posted a surprise gain in September.

The index, which measures how goods-makers in the U.S. northeast feel about their future prospects, stood at 3.8 this month. The September showing was a marked improvement compared to August when the index was minus 12.7.

The consensus among economy watchers had been that the index would hit a negative 10.

The Philly Fed manufacturing index was surprisingly positive in September.(CBC)

The so-called Philly Fed uses the figure to gauge manufacturer sentiment in eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey. In this world, zero means good producers are neutral about whether the coming months will be good or bad for their businesses.

September's reading was good news for the sector.

"Most of the survey's indicators of future activity moved higher this month, suggesting that the region's manufacturing executives expect growth in their sector over the next six months," said the bank, one of the members of the Federal Reserve System, in a press release

The index, which is followed relatively closely in stock market circles, was a little bit of good news after a week in which brokerage house failures and financial service company takeovers drove North America's stock markets deeply into negative territory.

U.S. jobless claims

Beside the Philly Fed index, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of people filing claims for unemployment insurance rose by 10,000, reaching 455,000 Americans last week.

The number was worse than the 440,000 economists had predicted for the seven-day period.

A claims reading more than 400,000 indicates employment weakness in the economy.

As a rule, the Labor Department does not comment on the numbers. Some analysts, however, have suggested that the economy might be feeling the aftershock of Hurricane Ike, which hit the southern United States last week.

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