Business Week Index

Business Week Index

BusinessWeek Index

PRODUCTION INDICATORS

LATEST WEEK YEARLY

WEEK AGO % CHG

STEEL (5/27) thous. of net tons 1,909 1,986# -2.8

AUTOS (5/27) units 130,872 134,156r# -3.1

TRUCKS (5/27) units 116,200 126,115r# 1.8

ELECTRIC POWER (5/27) millions

of kilowatt-hrs. NA 58,259# NA

CRUDE-OIL REFINING (5/27) thous.

of bbl./day NA 14,327# NA

COAL (5/20) thous. of net tons 19,038# 19,232 -3.5

PAPERBOARD (5/20) thous. of tons 936.5# 885.4r 7.9

PAPER (5/20) thous. of tons 831.0# 845.0r 3.5

LUMBER (5/20) millions of ft. 431.2# 424.7 -11.1

RAIL FREIGHT (5/20) billions of ton-miles 23.7# 23.6 3.0

Sources: American Iron & Steel Institute, Ward's Automotive Reports, Edison

Electric Institute, American Petroleum Institute, Energy Dept., American Forest

& Paper Association, WWPA1, SFPA2, Association of American Railroads

LEADING INDICATORS

LATEST WEEK YEARLY

WEEK AGO % CHG

STOCK PRICES (5/26) S&P 500 526.62 524.35 15.6

CORPORATE BOND YIELD, Aaa (5/26) 7.51% 7.60% -5.9

INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS PRICES (5/26) 113.9 113.7 NA*

BUSINESS FAILURES (5/19) NA NA NA

REAL ESTATE LOANS (5/17) billions $477.3 $477.9r 11.5

MONEY SUPPLY, M2 (5/15) billions $3,617.0 $3,613.7r 1.2

INITIAL CLAIMS, UNEMPLOYMENT (5/13) thous. 367 368r 0.0

Sources: Center for International Business Cycle Research (CIBCR), Standard &

Poor's, Moody's, Journal of Commerce (index: 1990=100), Dun & Bradstreet

(failures of large companies), Federal Reserve, Labor Dept. CIBCR seasonally

adjusts data on business failures and real estate loans. *Historical data

available from CIBCR.

PRICES

LATEST WEEK YEARLY

WEEK AGO % CHG

GOLD (5/31) $/troy oz. 384.300 383.100 -0.5

STEEL SCRAP (5/30)#1 heavy, $/ton 142.50 142.50 16.3

COPPER (5/27) cents/lb. 135.5 130.3 25.0

ALUMINUM (5/27) cents/lb. 87.0 84.0 34.9

COTTON (5/27) strict low middling

1-1/16 in., cents/lb. 108.57 103.04 34.7

OIL (5/30) $/bbl. 18.78 19.75 3.2

Sources: London Wednesday final setting, Chicago market, Metals Week, Memphis

market, NYMEX

INTEREST RATES

LATEST WEEK YEAR

WEEK AGO AGO

FEDERAL FUNDS (5/30) 6.07% 5.96% 4.27%

COMMERCIAL PAPER (5/31) 3-month 6.02 6.06 4.60

CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT (5/31) 3-month 5.96 5.99 4.52

FIXED MORTGAGE (5/26) 30-year 8.04 8.10 8.68

ADJUSTABLE MORTGAGE (5/26) one-year 6.03 6.15 5.53

PRIME (5/31) 9.00 9.00 7.25

Sources: Federal Reserve, HSH Associates, Reuters Holdings PLC

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

LATEST WEEK YEAR

WEEK AGO AGO

JAPANESE YEN (5/31) 84.43 87.28 105.30

GERMAN MARK (5/31) 1.41 1.44 1.66

BRITISH POUND (5/31) 1.59 1.58 1.51

FRENCH FRANC (5/31) 4.96 5.11 5.67

ITALIAN LIRA (5/31) 1639.5 1672.3 1618.8

CANADIAN DOLLAR (5/31) 1.37 1.36 1.38

MEXICAN PESO (5/31)3 6.153 6.045 3.320

Sources: Major New York banks. Currencies expressed in units per U.S. dollar,

except for British pound in dollars

#Raw data in the production indicators are seasonally adjusted in computing the

BW index (chart); other components (estimated and not listed) include machinery

and defense equipment. 1=Western Wood Products Assn. 2=Southern Forest

Products Assn. 3=Free market value NA=Not available r=revised NM=Not

meaningful