Full text of U.S. Financial Data : August 17, 2000

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August 17, 2000

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
Consumer prices (CPI) rose at a 2.8 percent annual rate in July,
considerably slower than the 7.2 percent gain registered in June.
Through the first seven months of 2000, the CPI has increased at
a 4 percent rate, which is markedly faster than the 2.7 percent
increase seen in 1999. Consumer prices have risen at a 2.5 percent
rate during the past 36 months.
The producer price index for finished goods (PPI) was unchanged in
July after accelerating at a 7.2 percent rate in June. When the direct
influence of food and energy prices are excluded (core PPI), the PPI
rose at a 1.6 percent rate, which offset June’s 1.6 percent decline. The
PPI is up at a 4.1 percent rate, year-to-date, a modest acceleration
from the 2.9 percent rise seen in 1999.
Paced by a 15.1 percent (annual rate) surge in sales of durable goods,
the nominal value of sales at the nation’s retailers rose at a 9.3
percent rate in July. July’s increase was the largest in five months.
The index of industrial production—which measures the output
produced by the nation’s factories, mines and utilities—increased
at a 4.5 percent annual rate in July. Manufacturing output, however,
advanced at a 6.7 percent rate. Output of business equipment rose
at a 16.9 percent rate in July, its largest increase in four months,
while the production of construction supplies rose for the first
time in three months, 3.5 percent. The manufacturing capacity
utilization rate measured 81.6 percent in July, its highest rate
since February 1998.

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.