Como se combate o populismo? "Com eleições", responde Fukuyama

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ECONOMIC REPORT: U.S. producer prices rise 0.6%; Core PPI increases larger-than expected 0.3% in April
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:31 AM ET May 17, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wholesale prices increased a larger-than-expected 0.6% in April, as energy prices continued to push higher, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

Excluding food and energy prices, the producer price index for finished goods increased 0.3%. Energy prices increased 2.1%, food prices rose 0.1%, and capital goods prices increased 0.2%.

The gains were slightly stronger than expected on Wall Street, where economists had forecast the PPI to rise 0.4%, with core prices expected to increase 0.2%, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch.

Still, the year-over-year gain in the PPI dipped to 4.8% in April from 4.9% in March. Core prices were up 2.6% year-over-year, unchanged from March.

The PPI had increased 0.7% in March, with core prices up 0.1%.

Inflation cooled slightly in April further back in the production pipeline.

Prices of intermediate goods destined for further processing increased 0.8% after a 1% gain in March. Core intermediate goods prices increased 0.2% after 0.3% in March, bringing the year-over-year increase down to 6.6% from 7.6% in March.

The core intermediate PPI peaked at 8.5% in January.

Coincidence or not, the Federal Reserve typically wraps up its tightening cycle about the time the year-over-year gain in the core intermediate PPI peaks, although this cycle has been anything but typical.

Most observers expect the Federal Open Market Committee to raise short-term rates by a quarter percentage point at the next two meetings at a minimum, bringing the federal funds rate to 3.5% by mid-summer.

Prices of crude goods rose 2.7% in April after 4.3% in March. Crude energy prices increased 7.2%. Crude materials excluding energy fell 1.2%. In the past 12 months, crude energy goods prices have surged 32.6%, while prices of materials excluding energy have fallen 2.3%.

Within the main PPI for finished goods, prices of cigarettes jumped 1.2%, while light truck prices rose 0.6% and car prices gained 0.5%. Drug prices increased 0.9%. Alcoholic beverage prices dropped 0.9%.

Residential natural gas prices soared 6.6%, the biggest increase in two years. Gasoline prices rose 2.6%. Home heating oil prices fell 1.7%.

Energy prices have moderated in May.

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8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL BUILDING PERMITS UP 5.3% BIGGEST SINCE 12/02
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL HOUSING STARTS LARGEST RISE SINCE DEC. 2004
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL HOUSING STARTS UP 11.0% TO 2.04 MLN UNITS

8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL CRUDE PPI EX-ENERGY PRICES UP DOWN 1.2%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL PPI ENERGY PRICES UP 2.7%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. CORE INTERMEDIATE PPI UP 0.2%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. CORE PPI UP 2.6%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL CRUDE PPI UP 2.7%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL INTERMEDIATE PPI UP 0.8%
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL CORE PPI UP 0.3% VS. 0.2% EXPECTED
8:30am 05/17/05 U.S. APRIL PPI UP 0.6% VS. 0.4% EXPECTED


ECONOMIC REPORT: U.S. housing starts rebound in April; Building permits biggest rise since December 2002
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:30 AM ET May 17, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Groundbreaking on new homes in the United States rebounded in April after slowing in March, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Construction of new U.S. houses rose 11.0% in April to a seasonally adjusted 2.04 million annualized units.

This follows a 17.6% drop in starts in March to 1.84 million units, which economists blamed on cold and wet weather.

The increase in April housing starts was larger than expected. Economists were looking for starts to rise to 1.96 million.

The April figure is 3.6% higher than the 1.968 million-unit pace reported in April 2004.

Starts of new single-family homes rose by 6.3% to a 1.64 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.

Building permits for new housing rose 5.3% to a 2.13 million annual rate. This is the biggest monthly increase since December 2002.

Permits for single-family homes rose by 5.3% to a 1.64 million annual rate.

The government cautions that the housing data are subject to large sampling and other statistical errors. It can take five months for a trend in housing starts to emerge from the data.