• Philly Fed business activity index dropped to -5.8 from 8.5 in April against the estimate rise to 10.0

Quotes

   "In general I take this regional report with a grain of salt as it is not national. Having said that, this data is not encouraging in light of recent better than expected data. This pours cold water on the better-than-expected data seen lately. The underlying details of the report were equally unimpressive."

 Tom Porcelli, Chief U.S. Economist, RBC Capital Markets, New York 

• The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index slipped 0.1 pct to 95.5 from +0.3 pct in Feb
• The leading indicator misses expectations for a rise by 0.1 pct, marks the first drop since Sept 2011
• Employment growth slowed in April as employers added 115,000 new jobs to their payrolls

Quotes

 "The indicators reflect an economy that's still struggling to gain momentum,"

 "Growth is slow, but choppy, and consumers, executives and investors are looking for more progress."     

Ken Goldstein, economist, Conference Board