Highlights
In data that will help to ease concern over inflation pressures, import prices fell 1.2 percent in January and -- in a big plus -- were unchanged excluding petroleum. Imported petroleum prices fell 7.3 percent in the month, but again it's the non-petroleum reading, not subject to month-to-month swings in oil prices, that will catch the eyes of the market and of Federal Reserve officials including Chairman Ben Bernanke who may very well touch on the data in today's testimony. Year-on-year prices show virtually no pressure, at a gain of only 0.1 percent overall and a modest 1.6 percent excluding petroleum.

Export prices, the other half of today's report, rose 0.3 percent and are up a less-than-moderate 4.1 percent year-on-year. High export prices are less of a concern as they give a boost to domestic producers, though they do of course feed back on overall price levels.

Today's import reading will boost expectations for favorable numbers in tomorrow's PPI report, which is expected to show a 0.5 percent overall decline. Markets showed little reaction to today's price data which were released along with a strong Empire State report but also a very weak jobless claims report.

2007 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/12 2/15 3/14 4/12 5/10 6/13 7/13 8/10 9/14 10/11 11/9 12/12 Released For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov