Industrial Production Falls, Flat CPI

123jump.com Staff
15 May, 2009
New York City

Net foreign purchases of long term securities surged to $56 billion with Japan as the largest buyer. Industrial output declined 0.5% in April and consumer price index was flat.

[R]10:50AM New York – Net foreign purchases of long term securities surged to $56 billion with Japan as the largest buyer. Industrial output declined 0.5% in April and consumer price index was flat.[/R]

Net Foreign Purchases of Securities Rise

Net foreign purchases of long-term securities in March were $55.8 billion. Net purchases in February were $20.8 billion, and in January net sale were $11.7 billion and in December 2008 net purchases were $22.4 billion.

Net foreign purchases of long-term U.S. securities in the March were $56.4 billion. Of this, net purchases by private foreign investors were $30.0 billion, and net purchases by foreign government institutions were $26.4 billion.

In the month Japan purchased net securities of $27 billion.

Industrial Production Falls

Industrial production declined 0.5% in April after falling 1.7% in March. The data includes production from manufacturing, mining, oil and gas exploration and utilities output. Industrial production declined 12.5% from a year ago month.

Manufacturing output declined 0.3% in the month and was 16% lower than the peak in December 2007.

Output at mines declined 3.2% and oil and gas drilling continued to fall. Utilities output increased 0.4%.

The capacity utilization fell to 69.1% in the month, the record low since 1967.

Consumer Price Index Flat

Seasonally adjusted consumer price index was unchanged in April after declining 0.1% in March. The unadjusted index increased 0.2% in April and declined 0.7% from a year ago on 25.2% decline in energy prices during the period.

Food and beverages index declined in April 0.3% despite a sharp rise in tobacco prices.

The housing index fell 0.1% in April, the same decline as in March. The shelter index, however, rose 0.2% in April after being unchanged the previous two months. The index for lodging away from home rebounded in April, rising 0.5 percent after falling in each of the six previous months.