Key Economic Indicators – June 17, 2013

  • Advance estimates of retail and food services sales for May were up 0.6% from the previous month, and were up 4.3% from May 2012.
  • Total manufacturing and trade sales for April were down 0.1%, while inventories were up 0.3%.
  • Sales of merchant wholesalers in April were up 0.5% while inventories were up 0.2%.
  • The federal government budget ran a deficit of $138.7 billion in May, after a surplus of $112.9 billion in the previous month. The cumulative budget deficit for the first eight months of fiscal year  2013 was $218.2 billion less than the deficit for the same period of the previous fiscal year.
  • The current account deficit increased to $106.1 billion in the first quarter, from $102.3 billion in the previous quarter.
  • April consumer credit outstanding increased at an annual rate of 4.7%.
  • The producer price index for finished goods increased 0.5% in May, following a decrease of 0.7% in the previous month. The core  index -excluding food and energy- increased 0.1%, the same increase as in the previous month. The producer price index for finished goods increased 1.7% from May 2012 to May 2013.
  • The import price index decreased 0.6% in May, following a 0.7% decrease in the previous month. The overall import price  index decreased 1.9% from May 2012. The export price index decreased 0.5% in May, following a 0.7% decrease in the previous month. The price index for overall exports decreased 0.9% from May 2012.
  • The advance figure for initial claims for  unemployment insurance decreased 12 thousand to 334 thousand in the week ending June 8.
  • The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed average fixed mortgage rates trending higher. The 30-year  fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.98% for the week ending June 13, up from last week when it averaged 3.91%.
  • Mortgage applications increased 5.0% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending June 7th.
  • The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of  Consumer Sentiment, preliminary, retreated in early June after reaching its highest level in nearly six years in May.

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