U.S. manufacturing and home
construction jumped in November and a measure of consumer prices
fell for the first time in almost 21 years, evidence the world’s
largest economy is strengthening without igniting inflation.
Industrial production rose 0.9 percent in November, the
biggest jump in four years, the Federal Reserve said. Housing
starts rose to an annual rate of 2.07 million units, the fastest
in almost two decades, the Commerce Department said. The Labor
Department’s core index of consumer prices, which excludes food
and energy, fell 0.1 percent, the first drop since December 1982.
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Tax cuts and a 45-year low in
the Fed’s benchmark interest rate are encouraging consumers to
keep spending and companies to invest in new equipment. The
economy is forecast to grow 4.4 percent next year, more than the
3.4 percent average during the 10-year expansion that ended in
2001, according to the latest Bloomberg survey of economists.
Bloomberg News
