Full text of U.S. Financial Data : April 22, 1999

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

April 22, 1999

USFinancialData
THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
The U.S. goods and services trade deficit totaled $19.4 billion
in February, $2.6 billion more than January’s deficit. U.S. exports
averaged $76.8 billion during the first two months of 1999,
2.8 percent less than the average over the final three months
of 1998. Imports, however, averaged $95.0 billion during
January-February, 1.6 percent more than the average seen
during the final three months of 1998. Trade data are not
adjusted for price changes.
The U.S. government posted a $22.4 billion budget deficit in
March. Through the first half of fiscal year 1999, the federal
government ran a $49.9 billion deficit, $20 billion less than
a year earlier.
The industrial production index increased 0.1 percent in March,
or 1.3 percent at an annual rate. Total production rose at a
0.7 percent rate during the first quarter, the smallest rise in eight
years. The manufacturing capacity utilization rate averaged
79.5 percent during the first quarter, the fifth straight decline
and the lowest rate since the second quarter of 1992.
Starts of privately owned single-family houses were at an annual
rate of 1.766 million units in March. Housing starts averaged
1.792 million units during the first quarter, a 5.4 percent increase
from the average seen during the fourth quarter of 1998.
Yields on three month Treasury bills averaged 4.24 percent for
the week ending April 23, down 29 basis points from eight weeks
earlier (see Page 7).
All data are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise indicated.
U.S. Financial Data is published weekly by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis. For more information on data, please call (314) 444-8590. To be added to the mailing
list, please call (314) 444-8808 or (314) 444-8809.
Information in this publication is also included in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) electronic
bulletin board at (314) 621-1824 or internet World Wide Web server at www.stls.frb.org/fred.