BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2000
RELEASED TODAY: The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods showed no
change in January, seasonally adjusted. This followed a 0.1-percent
increase in December and a 0.2-percent increase in November. The index for
finished goods other than foods and energy fell 0.2 percent in January,
after edging up 0.1 percent in the previous month. ... The January decline
in prices of finished goods other than foods and energy was primarily due to
a 4.9-percent decrease in cigarette prices. Excluding cigarettes, the index
for finished goods other than foods and energy would have risen 0.1 percent
in January. (Similarly, excluding cigarettes, the overall finished goods
index would have risen 0.2 percent.) ...
The cost of goods imported into the United States edged up 0.1 percent in
January following a 0.6 percent advance in December, BLS reported.
January's price increase was modest despite a continued, though smaller,
increase in petroleum prices. For the year ended in January, the cost of
imports advanced 6.7 percent. In the January 1998-99 period, import prices
declined 4.7 percent. A sharp 131.8 percent jump in petroleum imports in
the year ended in January 2000 caused the acceleration, the data show.
Price increases for petroleum imports decelerated a little in January,
rising only 1.6 percent compared with increases of 6.8 percent in December
and 4 percent in November. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).
Construction of new homes and apartments rose 1.5 percent in January to its
fastest pace since last winter, the Commerce Department said.
Privately-owned housing starts were lifted entirely by gains in apartment
building. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_____Construction of new homes
and apartments increased unexpectedly in January, and permits for new
projects climbed to the highest level in a year, suggesting builders will
stay busy in months ahead even as interest rates rise. ... (New York Times,
page C24).
The U.S. economy has an embarrassment of riches. Two government
reports--housing starts and import prices--showed the economy grew at
breakneck speed with barely a whisper of inflation last month. Housing
starts suggested that higher mortgage interest rates aren't curbing sales.
... Separately, the Labor Department said prices for imported goods fell
0.1 percent last month, excluding petroleum products, indicating that
inflation is under control. ... (USA TODAY, page 3B).
Some independent truck drivers are parking their rigs and refusing to haul
cargo as a protest against sharply rising diesel-fuel prices and their own
inability to pass along the higher costs to customers. So far, the protests
have been most active in parts of the East where fuel prices have gone up
the most. In New England, for example, diesel prices have doubled in recent
months to more than $2 a gallon. The truck drivers are clamoring for
government action to drive down the fuel charges and for truck customers to
agree to pay higher rates to the drivers. ... (Wall Street Journal, page
A2).
The world's largest economy is worrying about No. 2 again, as Japan's
apparent slide back into recession threatens to worsen the U.S. trade
deficit and create economic drag just as the rest of Asia is recovering.
The numbers won't be official until next month, but Japan is expected to
record back-to-back quarters of shrinking economic output in the last six
months of 1999--the technical definition of a recession. Economists
disagree over whether that means Japan is really slumping, but even
optimists say the best the nation can expect is growth of about 1 percent a
year or less. With the U.S. economy booming at 4 percent or more, the gap
could widen an already huge trade mismatch. ... (USA TODAY, page 1B).
DUE OUT TOMORROW:
Consumer Price Index--January 2000
Real Earnings in January 2000
application/ms-tnef
