The Producer Price Index increased by 0.1% to 170.1 (1982=100) in February, after increasing by 0.8% in January which broke the 5 consecutive months of decline in the index, following a 1.9% drop in December, a 2.2% drop in November, and a 2.8% drop in October (record highest decline). Expectations were that the PPI would increase by 0.4%, generating a negative surprise. Over the year, the index has decreased by 1.3%. Excluding food and energy prices, Core PPI increased by 0.2%, following a 0.4% increase last month. In February, prices for energy goods increased by 1.3% after rising 3.7% last month, while the index for consumer foods fell by 1.6% after falling 0.4% last month.

Housing Starts for February rose by 22.2%to 583,000, jumping off of January’s steep decline with an all-time low of 477,000 starts, originally reported at 466,000 . This comes as a significant positive surprise, -27.57% with analysts anticipating starts to fall down to 457,000.  Although Housing Starts showed strong growth in February, the recessionary environment coupled with harsh winter conditions in previous months brought housing starts down 47.3% over the past year, from a 1,107,000 pace in February of 2008.  Building Permits also surprised in Februray, increasing by 3% at a 547,000 annual pace, up from the revised 531,000 January pace, originally reported at 521,000, ahead of analysts estimates of a decline to 500,000. Building Permits fell by 44.2% over the past 12 months from a reported annual pace of 981,000 permits in February 2008.

Upcoming Releases
Consumer Price Index (03/18 at 8:30 AM EST)
FOMC Policty Statement (03/18 at 2:15 PM EST)
Initial Claims (03/19 at 8:30 AM EST)
Leading Indicators (03/20 at 10:00 AM EST)

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