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December 20, 2001

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ In November, the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.5
percent, the largest increase in six months. The index’s rise was
primarily due to increases in the real M2 money stock and the interest
rate spread between 10-year Treasury bonds and federal funds.
■ The U.S. goods and services trade deficit totaled $29.4 billion in
October, down (in absolute terms) $4.6 billion from a year earlier.
Exports rose 0.7 percent in October, while imports jumped 11.4
percent. Trade figures for September, and hence percentage changes
between September and October, were distorted because of foreign
insurance payments to U.S. recipients to cover claims stemming
from losses that occurred in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
■ New starts of single-family residences rose 8.2 percent in November
to 1,645,000 units (annual rate). Through the first 11 months of
2001, actual starts totaled 1,501,100 units, an increase of 2.3 percent
from the same period in 2000.
■ After rising at a 0.5 percent annual rate from July to October, the
consumer price index (CPI) for all urban consumers was unchanged
in November. Year-to-date, the CPI has increased at a 1.9 percent
annual rate. In 2000, the CPI rose 3.4 percent.
■ In November, industrial production fell at a 3.5 percent annual rate,
the tenth decline this year.
Because of the Christmas holiday,
United States Financial Data will not be published next week.
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) 444-8809.
Information in this publication is also included in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) data base
on the internet at www.stls.frb.org/fred.