The Consumer Price Index showed prices at the consumer level came in unchanged in February month-over-month, compared to the forecast of economists which called for the index to rise 0.1%. Meanwhile, the core rate, which strips out food and energy, rose by 0.1% for February. On a year-over-year basis, consumer prices were up 2.1% in February, compared to the forecast of 2.3%, and the core CPI was 1.3% higher, compared to the 1.4% forecast.
The Philadelphia Fed’s Business Activity Index improved more than expected, rising to 18.9 in March from 17.6 in February, and compared to the Bloomberg survey of economists, which expected the index to increase to 18.0.
The Conference Board released the Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for February, which matched the expectation of a 0.1% increase, marking the eleventh consecutive monthly increase. February’s report was unrevised at a 0.3% advance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46 points (0.4%) to close at 10,779, the S&P 500 Index was flat at 1166 and the Nasdaq Composite was 2 points (0.1%) higher at 2,391. Crude oil was $0.76 lower at $82.17 per barrel, and the Bloomberg gold spot price rose $6.00 to $1,126.35 per ounce.
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