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Economy in Brief
Import Prices Continue Their Decline; Both Oil and Nonoil Prices Move Lower
Import prices fell a greater-than-expected 0.5% during January (-1.7% year-on-year)...
Empire State Manufacturing Activity Improves Modestly
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rose to 8.8 during February...
U.S. Retail Sales Exhibit Extensive Weakness
Total retail sales declined 1.2% (+2.3% y/y) during December...
U.S. Producer Prices Decline; Core PPI Rises
The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index edged down 0.1% for the second consecutive month in January (+2.0% y/y)...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Edge Back Higher
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 239,000 in the week ended February 9...
by Louise Curley May 9, 2005
March Industrial production data were released today for the developed nations-- Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom; and for the developing nations--Slovakia, Turkey and Malaysia. Each country reported a decline in production from February, adding to the evidence of a slow down in world growth in the first quarter of 2005.
While Turkey showed the largest decline, it followed an unusually large-- 9%-- rise in February. Unexpected declines occurred in the United Kingdom where production was down by 1.14% and in Germany where production declined by 0.79%. In both cases the consensus had predicted a rise.
The year-to-year percentage changes in the data generally show a declining trend over the past year or so in all the reporting countries except Germany, where the data appear trend less. The first chart compares the year-to-year changes in production for Germany and the United Kingdom. Although Turkey and Malaysia show a declining trend in year-to-year changes, the percent changes have yet to record declines, indicating that production is still increasing on a year-to-year basis as shown in the second chart. The same cannot be said for Denmark where the average year-to-year decline for the first quarter was 3.88% and for Slovakia where there has been little change in the level of production.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION | Mar 05 | Feb 05 | Mar 04 | M/M% | Y/Y% | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Germany (2000=1000 | 100.9 | 101.7 | 99.3 | -0.79 | 1.61 | 100.8 | 98.4 | 98.3 |
U. K. (2001=100) | 95.8 | 96.9 | 97.6 | -1.14 | -4.84 | 97.8 | 97.3 | 97.5 |
Denmark (2000=100) | 97 | 99 | 103 | -2.02 | -5.83 | 102 | 102 | 103 |
Turkey (1997=100) | 129.0 | 137.0 | 122.7 | -5.84 | 5.13 | 123.4 | 112.4 | 103.4 |
Slovakia (2000=100) | 124.1 | 126.7 | 127.9 | -2.05 | -2.97 | 124.7 | 120.9 | 114.8 |
Malaysia (1993=100) | 237.5 | 240.3 | 226.0 | -1.17 | 5.09 | 229.6 | 206.3 | 188.8 |