[PEN-L:570] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1998

RELEASED TODAY:  The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased
0.3 percent in September, seasonally adjusted.  This followed a decrease
of 0.4 percent in August.  The index for finished goods other than foods
and energy advanced 0.4 percent in September, after edging down 0.1
percent in August; increases in the seasonally adjusted indexes for
passenger cars and light motor trucks accounted for three-fourths of the
September advance.  Prices received by producers of intermediate goods
declined 0.2 percent, following a 0.3 percent decrease in the prior
month.  The crude goods index fell 1.6 percent, after a 2.7 percent
decline in August. ... 

__Import prices declined 0.1 percent in September, continuing the
downward trend in prices, which have fallen 6.5 percent over the last
year, BLS says.  Export prices fell too, down 0.5 percent for the second
month in a row and down 4.1 percent in the last year. ... (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).
__The decrease in import prices continued a downward trend, which had
amounted to a 6.5 percent decrease since September 1997.  Prices on
petroleum imports rose 1.1 percent in September, after a revised 0.9
percent rise the previous month.  The general downward trend in import
prices is expected to contribute to declining consumer goods prices. ...
(Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in September, the
Commerce Department reports.  The increase proved weaker than many
analysts had expected, but in line with a slowing economy. ... (Daily
Labor Report, page D-3)_____Despite brisk demand for new automobiles,
retail sales rose only modestly in September, suggesting that consumers
may be growing less eager to spend.  The increase in retail sales was
weaker than the 0.6 percent rise forecast by Wall Street economists. ...
(New York Times, page C11)_____The stock market's recent gyrations may
have caused consumers  to do a bit of belt-tightening, even as falling
import prices help keep inflation in check.  Retail sales rose at a
slower than expected pace in September, after practically no increase in
August.  But even with the general slowdown, retail sales were up 4.3
percent over September 1997. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2)

European governments aren't doing enough to create employment, the
European Commission said in a critical report on job creation across the
15-country European Union.  While praising member countries for their
efforts to implement 10 "best-practice" job-creation schemes from
individual EU countries, the Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner
said the EU still lagged behind the U.S. in most areas where it counts.
"The key thing we have to improve is the employment rate, which stands
at 60.5 percent" in the EU compared with 74 percent in the U.S., he told
a news conference following the EU executive body's weekly meeting.  EU
employment grew by about 800,000 in 1997, the best growth since 1992.
But that growth wasn't enough to prevent an increase in long-term
unemployment or to make a dent in worrying features of the EU job
market, the commissioner said. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A18).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
   Consumer Price Index -- September 1998
   Real Earnings:  September 1998


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