dated debt weighed down by profit-taking but short-term paper aided by the surprisingly soft reading. The dollar eased briefly. The rise in the leading indicators index was only the second monthly increase after five months of declines. Steven Wood, economist at Insight Economics in Danville, California, said the two-month rebound in the index was a positive sign. "However, even if this month's increase were sustained, it still suggests only moderate economic growth over the next six to nine months," he said in a research note. 4Cast's Ruskin said there was little in the two reports that would sway the Federal Reserve from a policy of methodically raising interest rates to stem inflation pressures in the expanding economy. "The Fed would need a couple of months or more of sluggish data to influence them," he said. "But if we did get a few months of data that suggested growth below 3 percent, rather than 3.5 to 4 percent, that could severely truncate the tightening cycle." St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole said on Thursday that growth forecasts of 4 percent to 4.5 percent for 2005 were "pretty reasonable," echoing sentiments expressed by other Fed officials this month. --SP 2358 Local Time 2058 GMT
