Economic Indicators, Stock Market & Investment Reports
U.S. consumer prices index was up 0.4% from July, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The rising gasoline prices by 9.1% pushed overall consumer prices higher in August even as prices for most other goods and services remained in check. Energy prices rose 4.6 percent last month even though they were nearly one-fourth lower than the same period a year ago, when oil prices began to tumble from their record highs of around $145 a barrel.Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 0.1%, suggesting that most costs of living were not following the upward arc of oil and gasoline prices.Many on Wall Street have warned that the government's immense stimulus measures will eventually lead to inflation, pushing commodity prices sharply higher and further eroding the value of the dollar. These inflation hawks have helped push the price of gold above $1,000 recently, and they point to rising oil and commodities prices as a harbinger.The Fed officials have insisted that the economic recovery will be too slow to spark a rise in prices. The data is unlikely to change expectations that the Federal Reserve will remain on hold into next year given that core prices remain soft. Unemployment is still high, consumer demand for credit and goods and services is still subdued, and there is enormous slack in the economy.Investors were happy with the news, as the stocks saw strong gains at the closing bell.
The unemployment rate rose to its highest level since June 1983, but trend of job losses declined in August.
The Friday's jobs report showed an improving trend. Employers cut jobs in August at the slowest pace in a year. The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls shed 216,000 jobs in August, fewer than the 276,000 lost in July. Losses in retail and business services narrowed. The biggest gains came in health care.
A jump in the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.7% reinforced worries that a weak labor market. A revised data showed more job losses than previously reported in earlier months. The economy has shed 6.9 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
Rising unemployment portends persistent weakness in consumer confidence, income and spending, while manufacturers start bouncing back and stocks revive. Most economists expect the rate to top 10% in coming months and stay over 9% through 2010.
A declining pace of job losses in August helped increase in stock Friday afternoon. Traders focused on a decline pace in payrolls instead of the unemployment rate's rise.Charts: Courtesy of WSJ.com
Manufacturing data indicated that the industry was pulling out of a slump. A key measure in the economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in August according to the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business released on September 1, 2009. The measure passed the mark at which manufacturing expands (rather than contracts) for the first time in 19 months, helped in part by an uptick in activity from carmakers.
U.S. consumer prices index was up 0.4% from July, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The rising gasoline prices by 9.1% pushed overall consumer prices higher in August even as prices for most other goods and services remained in check. Energy prices rose 4.6 percent last month even though they were nearly one-fourth lower than the same period a year ago, when oil prices began to tumble from their record highs of around $145 a barrel.
