Full text of U.S. Financial Data : February 24, 2000

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February 24, 2000

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ After increasing 6.3 percent in December, the advance report on
new orders for manufacturers’ durable goods fell 1.3 percent in
January to $214.8 billion. Factory shipments of durable goods,
however, rose 2.8 percent in January, following a 0.8 percent
increase in December. January’s drop in durable goods orders
stemmed mostly from a 13.2 percent decline in orders for electronic
and other electrical equipment, as well as a 3.6 percent drop in
orders for transportation equipment. Measured from a year earlier,
durable goods orders are up 6.5 percent, while shipments are
up 9.2 percent.
■ The Conference Board’s index of help wanted advertising measured
89 percent (1987=100) in January, up 3 percentage points from
December 1999 but down 3 percentage points from a year earlier.
■ The consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) slowed
from a 2.9 percent annual rate of increase in December 1999 to a
2.2 percent rate in January. The CPI has risen at a 2.9 percent rate
during the past six months, modestly faster than the 2.4 percent rate
of gain posted during the prior six-month period.
■ The U.S. goods and services trade deficit narrowed $1.6 billion in
December to $25.5 billion, as a 3.2 percent increase in exports
exceeded a 1 percent rise in imports. Still, the U.S. trade deficit
increased $107 billion in 1999 to $271.3 billion.

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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