Nonfarm Productivity for the 2nd quarter gained 6.4%annualized, according to preliminary data from the BLS, better than the expected 5.1%increase. Nonfarm productivity increased by 0.3% in the 1st quarter of 2009, after it fell by 0.6% in the 4th quarter of 2008 and increased by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter of 2008. This is the largest quarterly gain since the 3rd quarter of 2003, when productivity grew by 9.7% annualized. Unit Labor Costs fell by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, based on preliminary data, more than the expected 2.9% decline, following a 2.7% decrease in the figure from the 1st quarter, revised downward from a 3% gain.
Wholesale Inventories decreased by 1.7% in June to the $393.9 billion level, expected to reduce by 0.9% over the month, after decreasing a downwardly revised 1.8% in March. Over the past year, inventories are down by 10.3%. This figure gauges sales and inventory statistics from the second stage of the manufacturing process, which may change the aggregate inventory profile that has influence on GDP forecast. Wholesale Sales increased by 0.4% in June to $313.1 billion, but are down by 21.0% since June 2008. Sales of durable goods were up by 0.7% and sales of nondurable goods were up 0.1% over the month. The Inventory/Sales ratio is 1.26, up from the June 2008 ratio of 1.11 as the rate of decline for sales were faster than the decline in inventories.
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Trade Balance (08/12 at 8:30 AM EST)
Treasury Budget (08/12 at 2:00 PM EST)
FOMC Policy Statement (08/12 at 2:15 PM EST)
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CPI (08/14 at 8:30 AM EST)
