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Productivity at six-year high
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March 9, 1999: 10:40 a.m. ET
Up 4.6% in 4th quarter; wholesale inventories and sales lower in January
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WASHINGTON (CNNfn) - Productivity reached its highest level in six years during the final quarter of 1998, while wholesale inventories and sales took surprising turns lower, according to reports released Tuesday.
The nation's nonfarm productivity for the quarter was 4.6 percent, revised higher from the 3.9 percent initially reported by the Labor Department in February. The level is the highest since the 6.2 percent increase in productivity reported in the fourth quarter of 1992, and was above the 4.2 percent estimate of analysts surveyed by Reuters.
For all of 1998, productivity was up 2.2 percent. The figure was unrevised from the initial report.
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has indicated that maintaining high productivity is important in preventing inflationary pressure.
Wholesale inventories declined 0.2 percent in January, after rising a revised 0.4 percent in December, according to Commerce Department figures. The decline is in contrast to the 0.2 percent increase anticipated by analysts.
Inventories in motor vehicles and automotive equipment declined by 2 percent in January, while inventories of lumber and other construction materials rose by 1.6 percent.
Wholesale sales declined 1 percent after a 1.2 percent increase in December. Leading the price decline were farm product raw materials, down 10.1 percent, and drugs, sundries and druggists' supplies, down 2.7 percent.
On a year-to-year basis, wholesale sales rose 2.1 percent. The stock/sales ratio rose to 1.33 in January from 1.32 the month before.
Treasury prices erased earlier declines after the reports were released. The U.S. 30-year bond was up 3/32 to 95-6/32, yielding 5.58 percent; prior to the 10 a.m. ET release of the reports, the bond was down 9/32. 
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