The central bank also hopes that "gradual adjustments" in monetary policy would result in expansion of economic activity, strengthening of the labor market, and stabilization of inflation rate around 2% over the medium term. Notably, the New Orders Index increased from 58.9 to 63.2 in April, which is the gauge's best reading since Aug 2005. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.AB provides diversified investment management services, primarily to pension funds, endowments, foreign financial institutions, and to individual investors.