Business Activity Up in Philadelphia Area

Business activity took off at the start of the new year at bellwether Philadelphia-area manufacturers, according to a regional Federal Reserve bank study, providing further evidence that the U.S. economy remains healthy. In a separate report, the number of U.S. workers applying for state unemployment benefits dropped for the second week in a row--falling 32,000 to 323,000 last week--even as the number of unemployed workers collecting benefits jumped to the highest total in a year.