Full text of U.S. Financial Data : October 26, 2000

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October 26, 2000

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ The employment cost index (ECI) for private industry workers, which
measures total compensation costs, rose 1 percent, or 4.1 percent at
an annual rate, during the three months ending in September. By
contrast, the ECI rose at a 5.2 percent rate during the first half of
the year. Measured from a year earlier, the ECI has increased 4.6
percent, which is the largest 12-month increase since December 1990.
■ For the week ending Oct. 21, first-time claims for state unemployment
insurance benefits totaled 305,000, down 5,000 from the previous
week. Initial claims averaged 307,500 during the last four
reporting weeks.
■ Sales of previously sold single-family homes fell 2.7 percent in
September to an annual rate of 5.14 million units. Existing home
sales averaged 5.08 million units during the third quarter, down
0.3 percent from the previous quarter and 3.3 percent from four
quarters earlier.
■ Measured against a basket of major country currencies, the value
of the U.S. dollar rose to 103.1 percent (1973=100) for the week
ending Oct. 25, its highest level since late December 1986. The
dollar has risen, in part, because of a marked appreciation against
the euro, which closed at an all-time low of 82.7 cents-to-the-dollar
on Oct. 25.
■ The Treasury Department reported that the U.S. government posted
a $237 billion budget surplus in fiscal year 2000, nearly double the
$124.4 billion surplus posted in FY 1999.
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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Information in this publication is also included in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) electronic
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