The Producer Price Index increased by 1.4% in January to 176.2 (1982=100), higher than the expected increase of 0.7%, following increases of 1.8% and 0.4% in November and December. Over the year, the index has increased by 4.6%, the third consecutive monthly increase. The index for energy goods increased by 5.1% in December and prices for consumer foods increased by 0.4%. Excluding food and energy prices, Core PPI increased 0.3% after remaining unchanged in the previous month.
Initial Claims increased to 473,000, for the week ending 02/13, higher than the expected decrease to 430,000, after increasing to 442,000, the revised level for the previous week. The 4-week moving average decreased to 467,500, from the previous week’s revised average of 469,000. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment from the prior week, ending on 02/06, was 4,563,000, unchanged from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,563,000. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate from the week ending on 02/06, was 3.5%, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 3.5%.
The Conference Boards’ Leading Indicators Index numbers are expected today at 10:00 AM EST. The index had increased by 1.1% to 106.4% (2004=100) in December, better than the expected decrease to 0.7%, after it had increased by 0.9% in November. The Coincident Indicators had increased by 0.1% in December to 99.9 (2004=100), after increasing 0.1% in November. The Lagging Indicators had decreased by 0.2% to 108.5 (2004=100).
Crude Inventories are expected today at 10:30 AM EST. For the week ending February 5, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories had increased by 2.4 million barrels from the previous week to 331 million barrels and were below the upper limit of the average range for that time of year.
Upcoming Releases
Leading Indicators (02/18 at 10:00 AM EST)
Crude Inventories (02/18 at 10:30 AM EST)
CPI (02/19 at 8:30 AM EST)
Consumer Confidence (02/23 at 10:00 AM EST)
