The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's March business-activity index showed expansion, while economists had expected contraction.
The merry month of May was anything but, with its reports of deteriorating conditions in April that were much worse than forecasts, as measured by the ISM Mfg Index, the ISM Non-Mfg Index, Factory Activity, and Industrial Production.
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The eurozone's services activity index slowed to a two-and-a-half year low, to 53.1, in December--it had been at 58 in August.
This was true during the recession of 2000-01, and according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity (KIEA), which measures the new entrants to self-employment and business ownership (two measures of entrepreneurship), it has been true even through the Great Recession of 2008-09 and its aftermath.
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The ISM index of non-manufacturing activity rose from 40.1 to 42.9.
However, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the service sector (accounting for 80% of the jobs in the private sector), fell from 54.3 in July to 51.5 in August, and was ignored.
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The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's index of manufacturing activity showed a bigger-than-expected contraction in August, one day after a New York reading showed a contraction for the first time this year.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity, a forward-looking gauge of the strength of the U.S. manufacturing sector, came in at 53.7 on June 5, a level consistent with economic expansion.
Ihe IBC-Br is the index of monthly economic activity from the Central Bank, and the monthly GDP proxy is now been below trend for the seventh straight month.
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That ended in a hurry on Wednesday, as a leading index of manufacturing activity fell to a 19-month low and the ADP Employment report painted a dismal picture for jobs.
The euro zone's purchasing-managers index, a gauge of manufacturing activity, fell in November to a level consistent with a 1% quarterly drop in gross domestic product, according to research firm Capital Economics.
The state ranked 4th last year in tax costs on new firms as calculated by the Tax Foundation, and a Kauffman Center index of entrepreneurial activity showed Wisconsin with the 7th-largest rise last year among the handful of states that did better at all.
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On Thursday the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank noted that factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region continued to slow in June with its index posting minus 17.1 compared to 15.6 in May.
The closely monitored Index of Economic Activity of the Central Bank, or IBC-Br, showed that the Brazilian economy grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of a disappointingly low 1.55 percent over the last 12 months.
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The only legitimate purpose of program-trading is in index arbitrage, which was originally its only activity.
Only Ireland achieved growth in business activity, with an index score of 55.3, close to its 20-month high reached in October.
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U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the third-quarter GDP estimate, the weekly jobless claims report, the Chicago Fed national activity index, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, the U.S. house price index and leading economic indicators.
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Despite reporting the first fall in new business for six months, the index suggested Scottish service providers continued to expand activity solidly and at a slightly faster pace than their goods-producing counterparts.
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