"Policymakers will be encouraged by the sustained recovery and signs of strengthening demand, which add further weight to the possibility of the Fed starting to taper its asset purchases as soon as September"
- Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit
A bunch of rather optimistic than negative data from the U.S. was published on Thursday, showing further improvement in housing market and manufacturing sector, while the labour market is still sending mixed signals. Markit Economics reported that a measure of manufacturing activity reached a five-month high of 52.9 in August, up from an upwardly revised 53.7 in July, on the back of strong growth of new orders, which climbed to a seven-month high.
Another report reflected further stabilisation of the property market, as the U.S. house prices advanced 7.7% in the year through June, supporting a recovery that is spurring even more homeowners to list their houses for sale. The Federal Housing Finance Agency also said prices edged higher 0.7% on a monthly basis, beating analysts' expectations of a 0.6% gain.
Despite obvious pickup in other sectors, the labour market is still struggling to show a stable performance, as the number of initial jobless claims totalled 336,000 over the last week, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average, which is considered to be a less volatile one, was at 330,500, a decline of 2,250 from the prior week. Despite another jump in jobless claims, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits over the last month reached 330,500- the least since November 2007.
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