> BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2000
>
> TODAY'S RELEASE: "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - June 2000"
> indicates that the U.S. Import Price Index increased 0.8 percent in June.
> The increase was attributable to a rise in petroleum prices; prices for
> nonpetroleum imports were unchanged in June. In contrast, export prices
> dipped 0.1 percent in June, after increasing 0.2 percent in May.
>
> Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 28 weeks of
> 2000 for all settlements show a weighted average first-year increase of
> 3.9 percent in newly negotiated contracts, compared with 2.8 percent in
> the first 28 weeks of 1999. Manufacturing contracts provided a weighted
> average increase of 3.4 percent, compared with 3.1 percent in 1999.
> Excluding construction contracts, the nonmanufacturing industry weighted
> average increase was 4.1 percent, compared with 2.5 percent in 1999, and
> the median increase was 3.5 percent, compared with 3 percent one year
> earlier (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
>
> Small gas stations struggle, saying that the price the operator pays for
> gasoline has risen faster than the price he can charge customers and still
> stay competitive. For many independent operators, who own most of the
> country's service stations, and convenience stores, rising gas prices have
> brought little benefit, and in some regions they have actually made it
> tougher to do business. But elsewhere along the chain that takes oil from
> the ground to the filling station, higher prices have meant sharply higher
> profits -- for producers and refiners. Major oil companies are expected
> to post average earnings growth of 121 percent for the first 3 months
> ended in June, compared with the period last year, according to First
> Call/Thomson Financial. Exploration and production companies are expected
> to report average increases of 371 percent. Even refiners, who have
> suffered through 2 years of very thin profits, are seeing profits double
> or triple (The New York Times, page 1).
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