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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (496730)	11/21/2003 1:21:56 PM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 769670

Reports Show U.S. Economy Strengthening November 20, 2003 12:44:00 PM ET By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa NEW YORK (Reuters) - Factories in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region expanded this month and fewer Americans lined up to collect unemployment benefits last week, two reports showed on Thursday, hinting at yet another quarter of rapid growth. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its index of regional manufacturing activity came in at 25.9 in November, unraveling a little of October's huge jump to 28.0 but still an impressive result historically. ``It doesn't really change the view that the manufacturing sector is coming along very nicely here,'' said Andrew Delano, a currency analyst at Wall Street think-tank IDEAglobal. A pullback in new orders did temper investor optimism about the factory sector and prompted modest gains in Treasury prices. Equities were mixed, paying more attention to geopolitical concerns than domestic data. Still, analysts were comforted by the Fed's suggestion that labor markets had stabilized in the past two months. While few economists expect a repeat performance of the third quarter's blistering expansion, the new evidence of industrial strength indicated factories could carry the economy forward if consumer spending tapers off. Even that prospect looked less likely now that U.S. unemployment lines are getting shorter. First-time applications for unemployment aid fell 15,000 to 355,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, the Labor Department said, below the 365,000 expected by Wall Street economists. Analysts said November could well add to the tally of more than a quarter million jobs created in the past three months, noting that the jobless claims data coincided with the survey period for the government's monthly payrolls report. ``It raises the odds that we saw a solid increase in nonfarm payrolls,'' said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia Securities. The closely tracked four-week average of jobless claims, regarded by economists as a more accurate reflection of employment conditions, fell to its lowest level in nearly three years, to 367,250, down from 376,250 in the previous week. The decline brought the four-week average to its lowest since 365,500 in the week ended Feb. 24, 2001 -- a month before the economy tumbled into recession. While the size of improvement in claims during the past two months is not huge, gradual declines in the number bode well for the U.S. labor market, which has lagged the overall economic recovery. Recent job growth also suggests shoppers will have enough cash in hand to spend freely on holiday gifts, a huge money-maker for the nation's retailers. ``Employment's back; it's good for consumer spending, good for holiday shopping,'' said John Lonski, chief economist for Moody's Investors Service. The jobless drop marked the seventh straight week in which new claims for state unemployment benefits remained below the key 400,000 level, a watermark viewed by economists as the divide between an improving and deteriorating labor market. The number of people already on state jobless benefit rolls rose by 21,000 to 3.50 million in the Nov. 8 week, the latest period for which that data is available. Separately, the Conference Board said its forward-looking gauge of economic activity rose 0.4 percent in October, suggesting the economy should grow briskly over the next few months. ``Latest economic data point to continued economic growth in the next year,'' said Ken Goldstein, an economist at the private research firm. © 2003 Reuters news.moneycentral.msn.com