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

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F
ebruary 17, 2000

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
s Following gains of 0.2 percent in November and 0.1 percent in
December, the producer price index (PPI) for finished goods
showed no change in January. Excluding food and energy price
changes, however, the PPI fell 0.2 percent, or 2.4 percent at an
annual rate—its largest decline since October 1994. Measured
from a year earlier, the total PPI is up 2.6 percent, while the
so-called core PPI is up 0.8 percent.
s Total housing starts measured 1.775 million units at an annual rate
in January, up 1.5 percent from December’s pace but 1.6 percent
below a year earlier. Because of a 2.1 percent drop in starts of
single-family units, all of January’s increase stemmed from its
multifamily component, which rose 17.7 percent.
s After increasing at a 6.9 percent annual rate from September
1999 to December 1999, the index of U.S. import prices rose at
a 1.2 percent rate in January. Prices of imported goods are up
6.7 percent from a year earlier, with prices of nonpetroleum
imported goods down 0.2 percent.
s The Federal Reserve Board’s index of industrial production rose at
a 12.4 percent annual rate in January, the largest gain since August
1998, when auto production jumped 45.8 percent (not annualized).
Industrial production is up 5.5 percent from a year earlier.
s According to the advance report, the nominal value of retail sales
rose 0.3 percent in January, or 4.1 percent at an annual rate.
Excluding auto sales, however, retail sales actually fell 0.3 percent.
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
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Information in this publication is also included in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) electronic
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