Full text of U.S. Financial Data : July 26, 2001

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July 26, 2001

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ After rising at a 4.6 percent annual rate during the first quarter,
the employment cost index (ECI) for private industry workers rose
1 percent, or at a 4 percent annual rate, for the three months
ending June 2001. The ECI measures employers’ labor costs.
Wages and salaries increased at a 3.8 percent rate during the
second quarter, while benefit costs rose at a 3.8 percent rate.
These gains were a modest step down from the 4.4 and 5.9 percent
rates of increases seen during the first quarter, respectively.
■ According to the advance estimate, the value of new orders
to manufacturers for durable goods decreased $3.7 billion, or
2 percent, in June. Categories showing especially large percentage
declines included computers, communications equipment, motor
vehicles and parts. In June, shipments of durable goods declined
2.3 percent, while manufacturers’ inventories fell 0.7 percent. For
the second quarter, new orders declined 2.2 percent, while shipments
fell 2.4 percent. Both of these declines were smaller than those
registered during the first quarter. By contrast, manufacturers’
inventories fell 1.6 percent during the second quarter, the largest
decline on record (back to January 1992 on a NAICS basis).
■ Existing home sales fell 0.6 percent in June to 5.33 million units
(annualized). During the second quarter, existing home sales
averaged 5.303 million units, an all-time high and 3.6 percent more
than four quarters earlier. The conventional 30-year mortgage rate
averaged 7.13 percent during the second quarter, 119 basis points
less than four quarters earlier.
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
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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.