A measure of where the economy is headed turned positive for the sixth consecutive month, according to a new report, as a separate one showed another big gain in e-commerce retail sales.
The latest economic reports show a further increase in U.S. manufacturing output and a firm footing for the overall economy, but raised some questions about where employment and labor are going, while there were mixed results for existing-home sales.
Manufacturing activity this month hit a three-year high, while other reports showed healthy increases in where the economy is headed over the next several months.
A barometer of where the U.S. economy is headed over the next several months showed it continued to increase, according to a report released on Thursday, while a separate one revealed sales of new homes in the U.S. tumbled in the final month of last year but improved for all of 2017.