Thursday's Markets Update (April 20, 2023)

21 Apr 2023 by rate3

On Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for April was released, showing a significant decline to -31.3 (previous: -23.2), which was well below the expected value of -19.2. In addition, the number of unemployment benefit claims increased to 245K, surpassing market expectations of 240K and nearly reaching the 12-month high of 247K. Despite these developments, the NASDAQ (opening: 12039, closing: 12059) managed to close in the green as traders continued to focus on technical analysis, particularly with respect to major resistance levels. Meanwhile, BTC (opening: 28892, closing: 28104) experienced a more substantial correction, subtracting 2.7 percent from its opening price during the daily session.

The most recent report on Philadelphia's businesses (the Philadelphia Business Outlook Survey) revealed that regional manufacturing activity continued to experience a downturn this month. The indicators for current activity, new orders, and shipments all remained in the negative territory. Despite this, employment levels held steady overall, while price indexes continued to decrease. Looking forward, future indicators suggest that firms remain restrained in their growth expectations for the next six months. More than 32 percent of firms anticipate a decline in future activity, which is an increase from 29 percent last month. In contrast, 31 percent of firms predict growth, which is up from 21 percent. Meanwhile, 34 percent of firms anticipate no change in future activity.