Economy in Brief: 2002

Finished producer prices surged by the most for any month since September 1990, powered by higher energy prices. Consensus expectations were for a 0.2% gain. Excluding food and energy prices also rose much more than expectations for a [...]

Retail sales were slightly stronger last month than Consensus expectations for a 0.2% decline. The sharp drop in September retail sales was little revised. Total retail sales were up at a 2.6% annual rate YTD through October. Sales [...]

Chain store sales rose last week, according to the BTM-UBSW survey. The 0.5% rise was the third weekly gain in the last four weeks and followed a 1.1% gain in the prior week. So far in November, sales were even with the average sales [...]

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) improved slightly in September, although the index remained negative. The reading left the three-month moving average of the CFNAI at -0.25, a level much improved versus the lows of late [...]

The Weekly Leading Index of the US economy published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) fell another 0.9% last month, the fourth down month in a row. The indicator's six-month growth rate fell to-3.4%. The y/y comparison [...]

Nonfarm labor productivity grew as expected last quarter. Consensus estimates were for growth at a 4.1% rate. While growth was more than double the 2Q rate, it was roughly half the heated growth of 4Q01 and 1Q02. Output in the nonfarm [...]

The Federal Reserve lowered the Federal Funds Target Rate more than expected to 1.25%, the lowest it's been since July 1961. The Board also lowered the discount rate 50 basis points to 0.75% The press release, which accompanied the [...]

Chain store sales rose sharply last week, according to the BTM-UBSW survey, but the rise did not recover all the prior week's sharp decline. Sales rose 1.1% after falling 1.9% the week prior. For all of October, sales were 1.5% below [...]