Frailty lingers in housing and producer price reports!
NEW YORK - August 18, 2009 - New figures showing a decline in wholesale prices and a drop in new-home construction highlighted how weak the economy remains, even as propagandists and optimists declare the Depression to be at an end.
Producer prices fell more than expected in July as the costs of food and energy slipped, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The 0.9% monthly decline came after three months of increases, and suggested that demand was weak up and down the ladder of production, from consumer goods, to intermediate goods like chemicals and rubber, to raw materials.
Producer prices declined a record 6.8% from last July, when crude oil prices soared above $145 a barrel and pushed the costs of fuels, food and other products sharply higher, before they fell back amid the global financial crisis. The decline in the last 12 months is the largest drop in 60 years, since the government started keeping such records.
So-called core prices excluding food and energy costs fell 0.1%, their second monthly decline of the year.
Producer prices fell more than expected in July as the costs of food and energy slipped, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The 0.9% monthly decline came after three months of increases, and suggested that demand was weak up and down the ladder of production, from consumer goods, to intermediate goods like chemicals and rubber, to raw materials.
Producer prices declined a record 6.8% from last July, when crude oil prices soared above $145 a barrel and pushed the costs of fuels, food and other products sharply higher, before they fell back amid the global financial crisis. The decline in the last 12 months is the largest drop in 60 years, since the government started keeping such records.
So-called core prices excluding food and energy costs fell 0.1%, their second monthly decline of the year.
