Full text of U.S. Financial Data : January 18, 2001
The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
January 18, 2001 USFinancialData THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS: ■ In December, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent, or 2.1 percent at an annual rate. Excluding food and energy prices, the CPI increased 0.1 percent, or 0.7 percent at an annual rate. Following gains of 1.6 percent in 1998 and 2.7 percent in 1999, the CPI increased 3.4 percent in 2000; last year’s increase was the largest in 10 years. Excluding food and energy prices, the CPI rose 2.6 percent in 2000, the largest gain in four years. ■ After rising 0.1 percent in November, the producer price index for finished goods (PPI) was unchanged in December. Producer prices for finished goods increased 3.6 percent in 2000, the largest gain in 10 years. ■ In December, the index of industrial production (production at manufacturers, utilities and mines) fell 0.6 percent—a 6.4 percent annual rate. Manufacturing output fell 1.1 percent—or at a 12.5 percent rate—the third consecutive monthly decline and the largest since November 1990. The manufacturing capacity utilization rate averaged 79.1 percent in December, down 1.6 percent from November and the largest monthly decline since January 1982. ■ According to the advance report, the nominal value of sales at the nation’s retailers totaled $271.3 billion in December, up 0.1 percent from November. Excluding auto sales, retail sales declined slightly (less than 0.1 percent). Non-automotive retail sales increased 0.5 percent during the fourth quarter, the smallest increase since the second quarter of 1997. 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.