Tuesday March 11
Wholesale Inventories
-rose more than expected
-rose 0.6%
-key component of GDP
-Economists believe the current inventory level is unsustainable and expect the build-up in unsold stocks to eventually reverse
Wholesaler sales
-fell 1.9%
-biggest drop since March 2009
-sales pace it would take 1.2 months to clear shelves
Thursday March 13
Export Prices
-up 0.6%
-major mover was rise in fuel costs and a one month jump in agricultural prices
-a minimal 0.2% increase when fuel and food is excluded
Import Prices
-up 0.9%
-again the major mover was fuel costs
-oil prices were up 4.4%
-natural gas was up 22.4% due to weather
-excluding fuel import prices fell 0.2% which is the second negative reading in the last 3 months
Business Inventories
-rose 0.4% after increasing 0.5% in December
-Business inventories are a key component that goes into calculating GDP
-Businesses accumulated a massive amount of stock in the second half of the year, which economists say will undercut first-quarter growth
Business Sales
-fell 0.9% which is the largest since March of last year
-a drop in sales meant it was now taking the longest time since late 2009 to move goods from shelves
-At January’s sales pace, it would take 1.32 months for businesses to clear shelves, up from 1.30 months in December
-It was the highest inventory-to-sales ratio since October 2009
Initial Jobless Claims
-fell unexpectedly and hit a 3 month low
-fell 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000
-may suggest strength in the labor market
-The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of underlying labor market conditions as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 6,250 to 330,500, the lowest level since early December
Friday March 14
Producer Price Index
-fell 0.1%
-reinforcing the view that minimal inflation will keep the Fed from raising interest rates
-gives Fed officials a reason to not worry about their easy monetary policy creating substantial inflation
-PPI measures price change from the perspective of the seller
-PPI looks at three areas of production- industry-based, commodity-based, and stage-of-processing companies