Economic indicators

Industrial production plunged 0.9% in August, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

Retail sales slid 0.2% in August after gaining a revised 0.3% in July, originally reported as a 0.6% increase, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed "business activity continued to grow strongly in New York State."

The consumer price index rose 0.4% in August, slightly ahead of expectations for a 0.3% gain.

Initial jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 284,000 in the September 9 week, a surprise decline that suggests workers are having trouble filing for benefits.

The federal government ran a $107.7 billion deficit in August, the Treasury Department reported Thursday.

Labor market “activity declined and momentum remained high in August,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said.

Final demand PPI rose 0.2% in August and was up 0.1% excluding food and energy prices, data released Wednesday showed.

U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose to a record in July, indicating resilient demand for workers, Labor Department figures showed on Tuesday.

Small businesses were more optimistic on a “surge in capital spending and high sales expectations,” according to the National Federation of Independent Business' monthly Small Business Optimism index.

Consumers’ inflation expectations held for one-year, but dipped for the three-year horizon, according to the August Survey of Consumer Expectations, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

Consumer credit increased by $18.5 billion in July to $3.753 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

The value of wholesale inventories rose 0.6% in July, while wholesale sales fell 0.1%, data released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed.

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form increased about $3.212 billion in August to a total of $254.293 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Thursday.

Second quarter nonfarm productivity was revised up to a 1.5% rate of growth from a 0.9% gain previously reported, while unit labor costs were revised down to a 0.2% pace of growth from the 0.6% rise in the preliminary estimate.

Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits surged by 62,000 to 298,000 in the September 2 week, well above the 248,000 level expected and the highest level since the April 18, 2015 week, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.

All 12 Federal Reserve districts reported modest or moderate economic growth in the past two months, the latest Beige Book survey showed Wednesday, up from the 10 reporting those levels of growth in the previous period.

The U.S. services sector expanded in August as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 55.3 in the month, compared to 53.9 in July, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday.

The U.S. international trade gap widened very slightly in July to $43.7 billion, smaller than the $44.8 billion gap expected and following a revised smaller $43.5 billion gap in June, data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) rose to 134.62 in August from a downwardly revised 133.60 in July, first reported as 133.77, and is up 4.6% from a year ago, the group announced Tuesday.