Leading Indicators Rise More Slowly, Match Expectations

The Index of Leading Indicators for February have been released, and its rise was the slowest in eleven months. In fact, the Index barely rose at all: +0.1% for the month. That rise matched economist expectations, as did the jobless-claim figures. For economist prognosticators, the February timeframe has been a good month.

The U.S. Dollar Index took well to the news: starting from 79.95 at the time of the release, it went up above 80 and was at 80.04 as of 11:04 AM ET. Gold didn't. Despite a two-dollar handicapping rise from $1,125 to $1,127 just before the data's release, the release itself erased that two-dollar gain. From 10:30 to 11:00, the price fell a further four dollars an ounce before recovering slightly.