Unexpected breakthrough of American industry. In March the Empire State index calculated by the New York Fed, which measures the conditions of the manufacturing sector in the Big Apple district, it returned to positive territory for the first time since July 2015.
The indicator stood at +0,6 points, up sharply from the -16,64 points in February and well above market expectations, which did not go beyond -10 points. A figure greater than 0 indicates that most companies have recorded an improvement in business conditions.
The US Department of Labor also announced that in February producer prices they dropped by 0,2% compared to January. The figure is in line with analysts' expectations.
Excluding energy and food prices, the index remained flat, while analysts had expected it to rise by 0,1%. On an annual basis, producer prices remained stable, while core prices rose by 1,2%.
From the Department of Commerce, on the other hand, data on the retail sales, down 0,1% in February compared to the previous month. The decline is more contained than market expectations, which pointed to -0,2%. The Department, however, drastically revised the January figure downwards to -0,4% from the initial +0,2%.
In the wake of these data, as well as the new oil slide, Wall Street started the session on the decline. After the first few minutes of trading, the Dow Jones dropped 93,3 points, or 0,54%, to 17.135. The S&P 500 lost 8,44 points, or 0,42%, to 2.011. The Nasdaq dropped 18,42 points, 0,39%, at 4.731. Oil in April at the Nymex slipped by 1,6% to 36,57 dollars a barrel.
Meanwhile, the meeting begins Federal Reserve, which will end tomorrow with the announcement of the monetary policy decisions (rates are expected unchanged) and the new economic estimates. This will be followed by a press conference by Governor Janet Yellen.
The market's attention is on any indication of the future path of the cost of money. The US central bank decided in December to implement the first tightening since June 2006 but then the start of the new year on Wall Street was the worst ever due to fears of a slowdown in China and the rest of the global economy.
Now the situation seems to have stabilized, which would allow the Fed to continue on its course. It remains to be seen how many squeezes he expects for 2016 given that he expected four in December.
