Full text of U.S. Financial Data : September 16, 1999

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September 16, 1999

USFinancialData
THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
After posting no gain in both May and June, the consumer price
index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) advanced at annual rates
of 3.7 percent in July and August. Much of the CPI’s acceleration
during the last two months stems from the 2.1 percent (July) and
2.7 percent (August) gains in consumer energy prices. Through
the first eight months of 1999, the CPI is up at a 2.6 percent rate,
1 percentage point faster than the same period a year earlier.
Producer prices for finished goods (PPI) rose at a 6.5 percent
annual rate during August and have risen at a 2.3 percent rate
year-to-date. Excluding food and energy prices, the PPI is down
at a 0.4 percent rate year-to-date, after rising at a 1.4 percent rate
during the same period last year.
The index of total industrial production rose 0.3 percent in August,
which is a 3.9 percent annual rate. Manufacturing output grew at
a slightly faster pace, a 5.4 percent annual rate. After rising at a
2.4 percent rate through the first eight months of 1998, production
is up at a 3.7 percent rate, thus far, during this year.
The current dollar value of retail sales totaled $252.4 billion in
August, $2.9 billion, or 1.2 percent, more than July’s sales figures,
which were revised up 0.3 percent from last month’s advance
estimate. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.7 percent in August.
Measured from a year earlier, total retail sales are up 10.6 percent,
with nonauto sales up appreciably less, 7.8 percent.

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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