Economics 101



Chicago Fed Midwest Manuf. Index rose 0.3% to 150.7 in May vs. 150.2 in April.



PPI

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods edged up 0.1 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This slight increase followed decreases of 0.4 percent in May and 0.2 percent in April. At the earlier stages of processing, the intermediate goods index moved up 0.2 percent, following a 0.5-percent decline in May. Prices for crude goods turned down 3.6 percent in June, after increasing 1.7 percent in the previous month.





UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT



SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending July 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 403,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 387,000. The 4-week moving average was 395,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 393,000.



The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent for the week ending June 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.9 percent.



The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 29 was 3,639,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,672,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,685,500, a decrease of 27,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,712,500.