Key Economic Indicators – September 17, 2012

  • Advance estimates of retail and food services sales for August were up 0.9% from July, and were up 4.7% from August 2011.
  • Total manufacturing and trade sales for July increased 0.9%, while inventories increased 0.8%.
  • Total Industrial production decreased 1.2% in August, following a 0.5% increase in the previous month.
  • In July international trade deficit was $42.0 billion, $0.1 billion more than the revised June figure.
  • The federal government budget ran a deficit of $190.5 billion in August. The cumulative deficit for the first eleven months of the fiscal year was $1,164.4 billion, $69.7 billion less than the cumulative deficit during the first eleven months of the previous fiscal year.
  • July consumer credit outstanding decreased at an annual rate of 1.5% to $2,705.2 billion.
  • The 30-year fixed mortgage rate held steady at 3.55% for the week ending September 13.
  • The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance increased by 15 thousand to 382 thousand in the week ending September 8.
  • The producer price index for finished goods (headline index) surged 1.7% in August, while the core index increased 0.2%. The producer price index for finished goods increased 2.0% from August 2011 to August 2012.
  • The consumer price index (headline index), which held steady in June and July, increased 0.6% in August, while the core index increased 0.1%. The consumer price index increased 1.7% for the 12-month period ending in August, while the core index rose 1.9%.
  • The import price index increased 0.7% in August, while the export price index increased 0.9%. The import price index decreased 2.2% from August 2011, while the export price index decreased 0.9%.
  • The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, preliminary, rose to 79.2 in September from 74.3 in August.
  • The Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25%, and indicated that it is anticipated that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2015. The Committee decided to increase policy accommodation by purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.

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