Mubasher: The Philadelphia Federal Reserve on Thursday said that its gauge on the US Mid-Atlantic business activity revealed a slower pace of expansion in September.

The regional Fed bank’s barometer declined by five points to 12 in September, from the estimate in August.

It is worth pointing out that any reading above zero reflects that the region’s business activity is picking up.

The September reading masked divergence in the sub-indices gauging new orders and current shipments, with the former dropping from 25.8 to 24.8, and the latter gaining seven points to 26.4.

Employment index jumped by 12 points to 15.8 during the month.

Both of the sub-gauges of the unfilled orders and delivery times stood positive during September, which meant higher unfilled orders and slower delivery times.

By 12:41 pm GMT, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against six major rivals, fell by 0.27% to 98.29.