Full text of U.S. Financial Data : June 3, 1999

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June 3, 1999

USFinancialData
THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
The current dollar value of new orders for manufactured durable
and nondurable goods totaled $345.4 billion in April, off 1.2 percent
from March but up 0.7 percent from February.
Sales of new, single-family homes were at an annual rate of
978,000 in April, up 9.2 percent from March’s rate and just 7,000
short of the all-time high set in November 1998. Measured from
a year earlier, new home sales are up 11.1 percent.
Measured in inflation-adjusted terms, the dollar value of construction
spending during April totaled $559.8 billion, down 2.7 percent
from March. Construction spending in real terms is up 0.4 percent
from three months earlier and 3 percent from six months earlier.
The composite index of leading indicators fell 0.1 percent in
April, as six of the 10 components made negative contributions.
The leading index last declined in June 1998.
The National Association of Purchasing Managers’ diffusion index
of manufacturing activity measured 55.2 percent in May. This was
the fourth consecutive reading above 50 percent, a level that
generally indicates growth in the manufacturing sector.
Yields on 30-year Treasury securities averaged 5.94 percent for
the week ending June 4, up 38 basis points from six weeks earlier
and up 106 basis points from the week ending October 9, 1998
(See page 7).
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.