Leading economic indicators fall again

WASHINGTON -- A private business group's measure of the economy's health dropped for the second month in August as building permits dropped and unemployment claims rose.

The Conference Board said Thursday its monthly forecast of future economic activity declined 0.5% in August. That is more than the 0.2% decline expected by economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

The index fell 0.7% in July.

Supplier deliveries, manufacturing hours worked and consumer manufacturers' new orders for capital goods all fell.

The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly by 10,000 last week, as the first wave of job losses from Hurricane Gustav rolled in after reporting delays in Louisiana, the Labor Department said in another report.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 455,000 during the week ended Sept. 13 from 445,000 the prior week. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims to drop to 440,000 last week.

Meanwhile, the number of continued claims — people remaining on benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid — unexpectedly fell by 55,000 to 3.48 million in the week ended Sept. 6, the most recent week for which that data is available, after an increase of 129,000 the prior week.

Analysts had expected continued claims to be almost unchanged from 3.53 million in the week ended Aug. 30, which was the highest reading since October 2003.

Contributing: Reuters