Giving a big boost to stocks was the release at 10:00 a.m. of the ISM Manufacturing Survey, showing a second straight month of expansion, with index of factory activity rising to 51.7 in October, up from up from 51.5 in September.
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's March business-activity index showed expansion, while economists had expected contraction.
The level of 50 in the purchasing managers' index separates contraction from expansion.
The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI), said its December index points to continued expansion, though at a more moderate pace.
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The purchasing managers index, a measure of economic expansion and contraction, reached 50.9 in March, slightly above the equilibrium mark of 50.
Providing a more recent picture, the Chicago PMI Index fell below the 50 level that marks expansion and contraction in September, coming in at 49.7, its lowest level in three years.
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Additionally, the ISM Manufacturing index fell in May, though it still indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector, albeit at a slower rate.
However, Thursday's HSBC data showed exports had stabilised in January, with the export orders sub-index rising to 50.1 - indicating fractional expansion - up from 49.2 in December.
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The PMI in March, for example, strengthened to 61.2, up from 57 in December. (An index value of 50 is the demarcation between and expansion and contraction.) New orders, production and employment all showed increased strength.
That is the first time in more than 3 years that this regional index has been below 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
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An index value of 50 is the dividing line between growth and expansion.
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The expansion looks set to continue, according to this week's purchasing managers' services index, which recorded a sharp increase in business activity in January.
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Economic activity among manufacturers in the central-Atlantic region contracted in June after months of slowing expansion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's manufacturing general-business index.
The latest jobs report showed an economy adding no jobs in August, while the Philly Fed manufacturing index signaled a contracting manufacturing sector, even though the ISM manufacturing report showed expansion, albeit at a slowing pace.
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