Jefferies economist Thomas Simons.....>

US DATA REACT: Jefferies economist Thomas Simons said today's September ISM

Manufacturing Index "rose to 60.8 from 58.8, hitting the highest level since May

2004. Activity in the manufacturing sector is riding high." 

- He adds that "the index level is quite a bit stronger than expectations as the

consensus was looking for the index to tick down to 58.1. Forecasts ranged from

55.6 to 60.0."

- Simons said that "the ISM PMI this month is quite encouraging once again" and

"being that it is a diffusion index, the readings solidly above 50 show that

activity in the sector expanded significantly during the month. The index and

the sector as a whole have been improving since bottoming in August last year

and continue to show good momentum. The strength over this time has not

translated directly into a pickup in the "hard data" (i.e. orders), though the

most recent prints on durables goods orders and shipments suggest that the

transition from strong "soft" data to strong "hard" data is beginning."