Full text of U.S. Financial Data : August 12, 1999

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August 12, 1999

USFinancialData
THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
According to the advance report, retail sales rose 0.7 percent in
July, a solid turnaround from the 0.2 percent drop posted in June.
July retail sales growth is somewhat weaker when the 2.3 percent
rise in automotive sales is excluded, measuring 0.3 percent.
On the strength of an 11 percent surge in petroleum prices, the
index of U.S. import prices rose 0.9 percent in July; excluding
energy prices, import prices fell 0.1 percent. Year-to-date, total
import prices are up 3 percent, while non-petroleum prices are
down 0.8 percent.
Following a 273,000 gain in June, nonfarm business establishments
added an additional 310,000 jobs in July, as manufacturing payrolls
rose for the first time in 11 months. Year-to-date, nonfarm payrolls
have risen an average of about 222,700 a month, up 0.9 percent
from the average monthly gain seen a year earlier.
Following a 4.2 percent rate of increase in June, the index of
aggregate hours worked in the private sector rose at a 4.1 percent
annual rate in July. At the same time, average hourly earnings
surged upward at a 5.6 percent rate. These increases suggest
personal income advanced at a robust pace in July.
Preliminary data indicate yields on 30-year U.S. Treasury securities
averaged 6.23 percent for the week ending Aug. 13. This average
yield was up 111 basis points from the last week of December
1998 and 63 basis points from a year earlier.
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.