February 2009

Wholesale prices rose 0.8% in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed declines of 1.9% in December and 2.5% in November.
 
At the earlier stages of processing, the decrease in prices for intermediate materials slowed to 0.7% from 4.2% in the prior month, and the index for crude materials declined 2.9% after dropping 5.3% in December.
 
The upturn in the index for finished goods was led by the index for energy goods, which increased 3.7% after falling 9.1% in December. Price declines for finished consumer foods slowed to 0.4% in January from 1.4% in the preceding month. The index for finished goods less foods and energy (core inflation) increased 0.4% following a 0.2-percent rise a …

Industrial production fell 1.8 percent in January. At 101.3 percent of its 2002 average, output in January was 10.0 percent below its year-earlier level.
 
Production in the manufacturing sector dropped 2.5 percent with broad-based declines among its components. A plunge in motor vehicle and parts production that resulted from extended plant shutdowns subtracted more than 1.0 percentage point from the change in manufacturing production. The output of mines moved down 1.3 percent.
 
A swing to below-average temperatures contributed to an increase of 2.7 percent in the output of utilities.
 
The capacity utilization rate for total industry fell to 72.0 percent, a rate 8.9 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2008.