The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
WSJ Interactive Edition

Economic Indicators Archive

The full text of statistical reports that economists use to gauge and forecast business conditions is maintained by the The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. These reports, issued by government agencies and business research groups, generally are accessible here for one month. Some of the documents are large, and may take longer to download than other pages of the Update. A calendar of economic indicators is available.

Beige Book Report
Business Inventories
Business Productivity
Construction Spending
Consumer Credit
Consumer Price Index
Crops Report
Current Account
Durable-Goods Orders
Employment Cost Index
Employment Situation
Existing-Home Sales
Factory Orders
Gross Domestic Product
Housing Completions
Housing Starts
Import/Export Price Indexes
Industrial Production
International Trade
Initial Jobless Claims
Leading Indicators
Monetary Aggregates
New-Home Sales
Non-Manufacturing Index
Purchasing Index
Personal Income
Philadelphia Fed Survey
Producer Price Index
Real Earnings
Retail Sales
U. Michigan Survey
Wholesale Trade Sales
Details follow on the contents of each report.

Beige Book Report

Report for June.
Released June 16th by the Federal Reserve Board.
Summary of regional economic conditions, prepared by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks for use at the central bank's next Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Business Inventories

Report for July.
Released September 15th by the Commerce Department.
Measure of the stocks of unsold goods held by U.S. businesses.

Business Productivity and Costs

Report Second Quarter 1999 (revised).
Released September 2nd by the Labor Department.
Measure of productivity -- defined as output per number of hours worked -- in the business and the nonfarm business sectors of the workplace.

Construction Spending

Report for August.
Released October 1st by the Commerce Department.
Measure of construction spending on residential, nonresidential and government projects.

Consumer Credit

Report for July.
Released September 8th by the Federal Reserve Board.
Measure of money loaned to individuals, usually on an unsecured basis, requiring monthly repayment. Bank loans, credit cards and installment credit are examples of consumer credit.

Consumer Price Index

Report for August.
Released September 15th by the Labor Department.
Gauge of inflation that measures changes in the prices of consumer goods. The index is based on a list of specific goods and services purchased in urban areas.

Current Account

Report: Second Quarter 1999
Released: September 14th by the Commerce Department
The current account is the broadest measure of U.S. trade with the rest of the world. It includes data not only about goods but also about merchandise and services, as well as some financial transactions.

Durable-Goods Orders

Report for August.
Released September 29th by the Commerce Department.
New orders for manufactured durable goods and shipments of durable goods. A durable good is a product that is expected to last more than three years.

Employment Cost Index

Report for June.
Released July 29th by the Labor Department.
Changes in compensation costs, including wages, salaries and employer costs for employee benefits.

Employment Situation

Report for September.
Released October 8th by the Labor Department.
Tally of payrolls and the unemployment rate.

Existing-Home Sales

Report for July.
Released August 25th by the National Association of Realtors.
Regional report on home resale activity.

Factory Orders

Report for July.
Released September 2 by the Commerce Department.
Tally of U.S. manufacturers' shipments, inventories and orders for consumer goods. Includes revised report for durable goods.

Gross Domestic Product

Report second quarter (revised).
Released August 26th by the Commerce Department.
The total value of goods and services produced within the economy.

Housing Completions

Report for August.
Released September 3oth by the Commerce Department.
Survey of the number of privately-owned, completed single- and multi-family homes.

Housing Starts

Report for August.
Released September 17 by the Commerce Department.
Monthly tally of the number of new privately-owned housing units started and housing permits issued by local government authorities.

Import and Export Price Indexes

Report for August.
Released September 9th by the Labor Department.
Tally of price changes in U.S. imports and exports.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

Report for August.
Released September 16th by the Federal Reserve Board.
Output at U.S. factories, utilities and mines. Capacity utilization is a measure of U.S. industrial production as a percentage of total production capacity.

International Trade

Report for June.
Released August 19th by the Commerce Department.
Tally of U.S. international trade in goods and services, or the difference between a country's imports and exports.

Initial Jobless Claims

Report for week ending September 11.
Released September 16th by the Labor Department.
Number of Americans filing new claims for state unemployment insurance.

Leading Economic Indicators

Report for August.
Released October 5th by the Conference Board.
Composite of 12 economic measurements developed to help forecast likely changes in the economy as a whole.

Monetary Aggregates

Released September 30th by the Federal Reserve Board.
Weekly measures of money supply. M1 consists of funds that are readily available for spending, including cash and checking accounts. M2 consists of M1 and all savings or short-term deposits. It also includes certain short-term assets such as the amounts held in money-market mutual funds. M3 is the total of M1 and M2 as well as the assets and liabilities of banks.

National Association of Purchasing Management Index

Report for June.
Released August 2nd by the National Association of Purchasing Management.
Report on the pace of manufacturing activity in the U.S. as a whole and in specific metropolitan areas. The report is based on data compiled from a survey of purchasing executives at more than 300 industrial companies.

New-Home Sales

Report for June.
Released July 30th by the Commerce Department.
Sales of new single-family houses.

Non-Manufacturing Index

Report for August.
Released October 5th by the National Association of Purchasing Management.
Report on the pace of business activity in non-manufacturing sectors. The report is based on a survey of 370 purchasing and supply-management professionals in more than 60 different sectors.

Personal Income and Outlays

Report for July.
Released August 27th by the Commerce Department.
Tally of wage and salary disbursements and of personal consumption expenditures.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Outlook Survey

Report for July.
Released September 16th by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Survey of regional business activity.

Producer Price Index

Report for June.
Released August 13th by the Labor Department.
A group of statistics used to gauge inflation at the wholesale level. The index for finished goods, which tracks commodities that won't undergo further processing and are ready for sale to the ultimate user, is the most prominently reported of the statistics and is released monthly.

Real Earnings

Report for March.
Released April 13th by the Labor Department.
Tally of real average weekly earnings of U.S. workers. The data are collected from the payroll reports of private nonfarm establishments. Earnings of both full-time and part-time workers holding production or nonsupervisory jobs are included.

Retail Sales

Report for August.
Released September 14th by the Commerce Department.
Sales of durable and non-durable goods sold to consumers.

University of Michigan Survey of Consumers

Report for August
Released August 30th by the University of Michigan. A monthly survey of consumer sentiment based on telephone interviews with approximately 500 adults living in the 48 coterminous states plus the District of Columbia.

Wholesale Trade Sales and Inventories

Report for August.
Released October 8th by the Commerce Department.
Tally of the sales and inventories of U.S. merchant wholesalers.

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