Hobbs
10-18-2006, 06:06 PM
A drop in consumer prices and a report showing further signs of weakness in the housing market sent stocks surging this morning, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising past 12,000 for the first time.
Rapidly falling energy prices helped bring overall consumer prices in September down at a faster rate than expected, the Labor Department reported. The consumer price index, which measures prices Americans pay at the retail level, fell 0.5 percent. Economists had forecast a decrease of only 0.3 percent.
But excluding the volatile prices of food and energy, the core rate for the index rose last month by 0.2 percent, in line with expectations. The core rate has risen at 0.2 percent each month since July. It is that core rate that the Federal Reserve monitors closely as it decides whether to adjust interest rates. For the year, the Labor Department reported that core consumer inflation is running at 2.9 percent. That is the highest level in almost 11 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/19econcnd.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Rapidly falling energy prices helped bring overall consumer prices in September down at a faster rate than expected, the Labor Department reported. The consumer price index, which measures prices Americans pay at the retail level, fell 0.5 percent. Economists had forecast a decrease of only 0.3 percent.
But excluding the volatile prices of food and energy, the core rate for the index rose last month by 0.2 percent, in line with expectations. The core rate has risen at 0.2 percent each month since July. It is that core rate that the Federal Reserve monitors closely as it decides whether to adjust interest rates. For the year, the Labor Department reported that core consumer inflation is running at 2.9 percent. That is the highest level in almost 11 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/19econcnd.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin