December Publication Schedule & Web Sources

The Lehmann Letter ©


Here’s December’s economic-indicator publication schedule, followed by a list of web sources. Future postings will discuss these indicators.

You can use the WEB SOURCES listing to find the data on your own and read the accompanying press release. The addresses take you to the source’s home page and the steps tell you how to navigate the site. That way (rather than provide a direct link to the data) you can become familiar with these sites and find additional information on your own.

(P.S. ISM’s Purchasing Managers’ Index was out today at 50.8 More on that tomorrow,)

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

December 2007

Source (* below)…………………Series Description…………………Day & Date

Quarterly Data

BLS………………………………….Productivity & costs…………………Wed, 5th
Census……………………………..Manufacturing profits………..……Mon, 10th
BEA…………………………………GDP………………………….….............Thu, 20th
BEA…………………………………Corporate profits……………………..Thu, 20th
BEA……………………………..….International transactions……….Mon, 17th

Monthly Data

ISM…………………………………Purchasing managers’ index…....Mon, 3rd
BLS…………………………………Employment……………………………Fri, 7th
Fed…………………………………Consumer credit………………………Fri, 7th
Census…………………………….Balance of trade………………………Wed, 12th
BLS…………………………………Producer prices………………………Thu, 13th
Census……………………………Retail trade……………………………..Thu, 13th
Census……………………………Inventories……………………………..Thu, 13th
BLS…………………………………Consumer prices……………………..Fri, 14th
Fed…………………………………Industrial production……………...Fri, 14th
Fed…………………………………Capacity utilization………………….Fri, 14th
Census…………………………….Housing starts………………………...Tue, 18th
BEA………………………………..Personal income………………………Fri, 21st
Conf Bd…………………………..Economic Indicators……………….Thu, 20th
Census…………………………...Capital goods…………………………..Thu, 27th
Conf Bd…………………….…….Consumer confidence………………Thu, 27th
Census……………………………New-home sales……………………….Fri, 28th
NAR……………………………….Existing-home sales…………….…..Mon, 31st

* BEA = Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce
* Census = U.S. Bureau of the Census
* Conf Bd = Conference Board
* Fed = Federal Reserve System
* ISM = Institute for Supply Management
* NAR = National Association of Realtors


WEB SOURCES

Quarterly

Manufacturers’ After-tax Profits
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "PDF" on the left under "Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade"
Step 3: Scroll down to Table 2 and find after-tax profits for all manufacturing corporation

Labor Productivity & Unit Labor Costs
http://stats.bls.gov
Step 1: Click on “Productivity and Costs” under “Productivity” in left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Click on (HTML) following “Productivity and Costs” under "Economic News Releases:"
Step 3: Click on “Table 1. Business sector"
Step 4: Obtain the most recent quarterly index values for "Output per hour of all persons" and "Unit labor costs" and then scroll down and obtain their "Percent change from previous quarter at annual rate"

Gross Domestic Product
http://www.bea.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Gross Domestic Product" under "National"
Step 2: Click on "National Income and Product Accounts Tables" under "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)"
Step 3: Click on "list of all NIPA Tables"
Step 4: Click on "Table 1.1.6. Real Gross Domestic Product..." and "Table 1.1.1. Percent Change..."
Step 5: Scroll down to line 1 in both tables and go to the last column on the right

After-tax Corporate Profits
http://www.bea.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Gross Domestic Product" under "National"
Step 2: Click on "National Income and Product Accounts Tables" under "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)"
Step 3: Click on "list of all NIPA Tables"
Step 4: Click on "Table 1.12. National Income by Type of Income (A) (Q)"
Step 5: Scroll down to line 46 and go to the last column on the right

International Transactions
http://www.bea.gov
Step 1: Click on "Balance of Payments" under "International"
Step 2: Click on "Detailed estimates"
Step 3: Click on “Table 1. U.S. International Transactions"
Step 4: See lines 72, 74 & 77

Monthly

Institute For Supply Management Index
http://www.ism.ws/
Step 1: Click on "ISM Report on Business" in left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Click on “Latest Manufacturing ROB” and find the latest PMI

Employment Data
(Total Non-farm Payroll Employment)
(Unemployment Rate)
(Manufacturing Workweek)
http://stats.bls.gov/
Step 1: Click on “National Employment” under “Employment & Unemployment” in right-hand menu bar
Step 2: Click on (HTML) following “Employment Situation Summary” under "Economic News Releases"
Step 3: Click on “Employment Situation Summary” under “Table of Contents”
Step 4: Scroll down to Table A and find the unemployment rate for all workers in the latest month, the change in nonfarm employment in the last column and manufacturing hours of work for the latest month

Consumer Credit
http://www.federalreserve.gov/
Step 1: Click on "All Statistical Releases" under "Recent Statistical Releases" and then click on "Consumer credit -- G19" under "Household Finance" in the upper right
Step 2: Click on "Current Release"
Step 3: Go to "Amount ... billions of dollars" and subtract previous month from current month & multiply by 12 to obtain seasonally adjusted dollar amount at annual rate

Balance of Trade
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "PDF" on the left under "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services"

Producer Prices
http://stats.bls.gov/
Step 1: Click on “Producer Price Indexes” under “Inflation & Consumer Spending” in left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Note "Finished goods" under "Latest Numbers" in upper right and multiply by 12 to put the data on an annual basis

Retail Trade
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Scroll down to "Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services" and click on "HTML" on the left under "Current Press Release"

Inventories, Sales & Inventory/Sales Ratio
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "HTML" on the left under "Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales"
Step 3: Scroll down to Table 1 and subtract previous month's inventories from latest month's and multiply by 12 to obtain inventory change, and then obtain the most recent inventory/sales ratio

Consumer Price Index
http://stats.bls.gov/
Step 1: Click on “Consumer Price Index” under “Inflation & Consumer Spending” in left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Note "CPI-U..." at the top under "Latest Numbers" in upper right and multiply "SA" by 12 to put the data on an annual basis

Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization
http://www.federalreserve.gov/
Step 1: Click on "All Statistical Releases" under "Recent Statistical Releases" and then click on "Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization" under "Principal Economic Indicators" in the upper left
Step 2: Click on "Current Monthly Release"
Step 3: Find the latest monthly data in the table next to "Total index" and "Total industry"

Housing Starts
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "PDF" on the left under "Current Press Release" under "Housing Starts/Building Permits"
Step 3: Scroll down to "Housing Starts"

Personal Income
http://www.bea.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Gross Domestic Product" under "National"
Step 2: Click on "National Income and Product Accounts Tables" under "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)"
Step 3: Click on "list of all NIPA Tables"
Step 4: Click on "Table 2.6 Personal Income..."
Step 5: Scroll down to line 1

Index of Leading Economic Indicators
http://www.conference-board.org/
Step 1: Click on "Economics" in the left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Click on "Economic Indicators" under "Economics" in the left-hand menu bar
Step 3: Click on link under "U.S. Leading Indicators"

Business Capital Expenditures
(Nondefense Capital Goods)
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "PDF" on the left under "Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and Orders"
Step 3: Scroll down to Table 1 and find new orders for nondefense capital goods near the bottom

Consumer Confidence
http://www.conference-board.org/
Step 1: Click on the "Economics" in the left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Click on "Economic Indicators" under "Economics" in the left-hand menu bar
Step 3: Click on link under "Consumer Confidence Index"

New-Home Sales
http://www.census.gov/
Step 1: Click on "Economic Indicators" in the lower right
Step 2: Click on "PDF" on the left under "Current Press Release" under "New Home Sales"

Existing-Home Sales
http://www.realtor.org/
Step 1: Click on "Research" in the left-hand menu bar
Step 2: Find "Existing-Home Sales" under "Housing Indicators"