Next up, the Empire Manufacturing Index (designed to indicate the state of the manufacturing sector in the New York region) for April was reported at 21.7, which was above the consensus expectations for a reading of 15.98.
The U.S. consumer continues to be a mystery for markets, as data indicates consumer sentiment fell more than expected to 57.5 in the preliminary October reading while retail sales jumped well above consensus by 1.1%.
The economic-sentiment indicator for February rose sharply to 5.4 points from -21.6 in January, the first positive reading since May 2011 and much better than consensus expectations.
Third quarter growth, or lack thereof, was the lowest quarterly reading since the third quarter of 2009 and below market consensus of 2.4% growth year over year.