Full text of U.S. Financial Data : May 25, 2000

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May 25, 2000

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ According to the “preliminary” report, first-quarter growth of real
GDP remained at 5.4 percent, unchanged from the “advance”
estimate. Real GDP has increased 5 percent from a year earlier.
■ Corporate profits from current production rose $34.5 billion, or
3.8 percent, during the first quarter. Corporate profits, which are
adjusted for inventory valuation and capital consumption changes,
increased 4 percent during the fourth quarter of 1999 and are up
7.6 percent from a year earlier.
■ The U.S. goods and services trade deficit totaled $30.2 billion in
March, an increase (in absolute value terms) of $1.5 billion from
February’s level. Exports increased 2.9 percent in March, while
imports rose 3.4 percent. During the first quarter, the trade deficit
totaled $86.3 billion, which was $10.8 billion above the previous
quarter and $32.2 billion more than a year earlier.
■ Sales of previously sold (existing) homes totaled 4.88 million
units at an annual rate in April. Although April’s sales pace was
1.6 percent above the first-quarter average, the number of existing
homes sold is down 6.9 percent from a year earlier.
■ CPI inflation is expected to average 3.1 percent in 2000 according
to the quarterly Survey of Professional Forecasters published by
the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. This inflation forecast
is 0.6 percentage points higher than the estimate from the previous
report issued in late February.
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.