Economists surveyed before the release had expected an increase of 325,000.

Most of the economists surveyed are employed by major manufacturing and financial institutions.

Economists surveyed by Reuters expect the index to be up 0.5 percent.

The economists surveyed believe the index will post a slight gain to 87.8 from 87.7 in October.

Yet only 21.6 percent of the professional economists surveyed chose that answer, a smaller percentage than if they had chosen randomly.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected sales to fall to an annual pace of 7.2 million.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected an August deficit of $11 billion.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg Business News had expected a reading of 102.

Economists surveyed by Reuters predict that 326,000 jobs were created last month, more than making up for 201,000 lost in January.

That was less than the increase of 1 percent that economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected.