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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (60579)	2/15/2002 2:40:22 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

U.S. January Industrial Production Seen Falling: BN Survey By Carlos Torres and Terry Barrett quote.bloomberg.com Washington, Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The pace of decline in U.S. industrial production probably slowed in January compared with all of last year as businesses started to restock depleted inventories, analysts said in advance of today's report. Production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities probably dropped 0.2 percent last month after falling 0.1 percent in December, according to the median of 62 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. While it would be the 15th decline in the last 16 months, the drop is smaller than the average 0.5 percent monthly decrease for all of 2001. The largest drop in inventories on record last quarter has set the stage for businesses to produce more goods in order to restock shelves. General Motors Corp. and Winnebago Industries Inc. already have plans to make more vehicles because they are running low on some popular models. ``In the next month or two we should begin to see some positive production numbers as manufacturers stop cutting inventories,'' said Bill Quan, chief economist at Fuji Securities Inc. in New York. Stockpiles ``are just too low.'' The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the production report at 9:15 a.m. Washington time. The plant-use rate probably declined to 74.3 percent in January from 74.4 percent in December. That would be the lowest since April 1983. Also today, the Labor Department is expected to report that prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers rose in January after falling for three straight months. The producer price index probably rose 0.2 percent during the month after a 0.6 percent drop in December, analysts said. Wholesale prices fell 0.5 percent in November and 1.4 percent in October. Excluding food and energy, prices at the wholesale level probably increased 0.1 percent after no change the prior month, analysts said. That report is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. Washington time. Sluggish worldwide demand has kept a lid on commodity prices, analysts said.