Full text of U.S. Financial Data : March 8, 2001

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March 8, 2001

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ Output per hour (labor productivity) in the nonfarm business sector
grew at a revised 2.2 percent annual rate during the fourth quarter.
Previously, fourth-quarter productivity was estimated to have risen
at a 2.4 percent rate. Although output growth was revised from
1.2 percent to 0.8 percent, hours worked are now estimated to have
declined at a 1.4 percent rate during the fourth quarter, the weakest
growth in nearly nine years and 0.3 percentage points less than the
prior estimate. Unit labor costs rose at a 4.3 percent rate during
the fourth quarter, 0.2 percentage points faster than initially
estimated. This is a direct result of the downward revision to labor
productivity growth.
■ In January, the nominal value of new orders to manufacturers for
durable and nondurable goods fell $14.4 billion, or 3.8 percent.
Factory shipments of completed goods fell 1.1 percent, while the
value of inventories held by manufacturers jumped $3.2 billion, or
0.7 percent. Accordingly, the inventory-to-sales ratio rose from
1.32 in December to 1.35 in January, its highest level since
February 1999.
■ The National Association of Purchasing Managers’ (NAPM) index
of non-manufacturing activity rose 1.6 percentage points in
February to 51.7 percent. A reading above 50 percent means that
proportionately more respondents are reporting increases in
business activity than are reporting decreases. Averaging together
January’s and February’s figures shows that business activity
during this two-month period was the weakest since the debut of
the series in July 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
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