Econoday Report: Import and Export Prices 10, 2007

2007 U.S. Economic Events & Analysis

Resource Center » U.S. & International Recaps | Release Dates | Why Investors Care | Today's Calendar

Import and Export Prices

Definition
Indexes are compiled for the prices of goods that are bought in the United States but produced abroad and the prices of goods sold abroad but produced domestically. These prices indicate inflationary trends in internationally traded products. Why Investors Care

Released on 5/10/07 For Apr 2007

Import Prices - M/M change
Actual	1.3%
Consensus	0.9%
Consensus Range	0.6% to 2.0%
Previous	1.7 %

Export Prices - M/M change
Actual	0.3%
Consensus	N/A
Previous	0.7 %

Highlights
Inflated by petroleum prices, import prices jumped 1.3 percent in April following an even steeper petroleum-led jump of 1.5 percent in March. But outside of petroleum, import prices remain contained, showing a 0.2 percent gain in April and a 0.3 percent gain in March. The year-on-year rate for non-petroleum import prices, an important reading often cited by policy makers, is at a less-than-severe 2.9 percent. Details show continued price declines for capital goods imports, perhaps evidence that pressures from high petroleum prices are being contained.

Export prices rose 0.3 for a year-on-year rise of 4.9 percent. High rates on the export side are a plus for U.S. industry though they do add to overall inflation pressures and inflation expectations.

Import prices are often overlooked by the financial markets but they may nevertheless raise jitters over petroleum data in tomorrow's producer price report. But high oil prices have yet to bleed through to wider prices, some comfort to Federal Reserve officials who will nevertheless be concerned by today's petroleum readings.

Market Consensus Before Announcement
Import prices jumped 1.7 percent in March reflecting a 9.0 percent spike in petroleum prices, but were up only 0.3 percent excluding petroleum. Oil prices generally trended up in April so we will likely see a strong increase in overall import prices, but the non-petroleum component is likely to get more attention.

Import prices Consensus Forecast for April 07: +0.9 percent
Range: +0.6 to +2.0 percent

Trends

Yearly changes in import and export prices reveal long term trends in inflation for tradable goods.

Data Source: Haver Analytics

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