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US Data: Atlanta Fed Survey of Business Infl Expectations>

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Projecting ahead, to the best of your ability, please assign a percent
likelihood to the following changes to unit costs over the next 12
months:
                                                             Up
                      About          Up           Up       Very
            Down       Unch    Somewhat Signifcantly Significant     Mean
            <-1% -1% to +1%  1.1% to 3%   3.1% to 5%        >5%
2017
September      4%        24%         46%          19%         5%      1.9%
August         4%        24%         47%          15%         7%      1.9%
July           5%        27%         45%          15%         5%      1.7%
June           4%        24%         48%          18%         7%      2.0%
May            4%        24%         45%          20%         7%      2.0%
April          5%        27%         44%          16%         8%      1.9%
March          4%        23%         47%          19%         8%      2.1%
February       3%        27%         44%          18%         8%      2.0%
January        5%        23%         45%          18%         9%      2.1%
2016
December       4%        23%         46%          19%         8%      2.1%
November       5%        24%         46%          18%         7%      2.0%
October        6%        29%         44%          16%         6%      1.7%
September      5%        26%         43%          19%         6%      1.9%
August         6%        28%         44%          16%         6%      1.8%
July           6%        30%         42%          15%         7%      1.7%
June           6%        28%         45%          16%         6%      1.8%
May            5%        26%         45%          18%         5%      1.9%
April          6%        29%         44%          16%         5%      1.7%
March          6%        27%         44%          17%         6%      1.8%
February       7%        27%         42%          18%         6%      1.8%
January        6%        27%         44%          16%         7%      1.8%
How do your sales levels compare with sales levels during what you
consider to be "normal" times?
            Much   Somewhat       About     Somewhat       Much Diffusion
            Less       Less      Normal      Greater    Greater    Index*
2017
September      8%        23%         47%          20%         2%        -8
August         8%        29%         40%          19%         2%       -11
July           8%        30%         35%          23%         1%       -10
June          10%        28%         35%          25%         2%       -10
May           11%        28%         38%          22%         1%       -12
April          9%        28%         44%          18%         1%       -12
March          9%        27%         44%          19%         1%       -12
February       7%        29%         43%          20%         1%       -10
January        9%        27%         45%          18%         2%       -11
2016
December       6%        30%         45%          17%         2%       -11
November       7%        35%         39%          18%         1%       -15
October       10%        35%         36%          18%         1%       -18
September      9%        33%         37%          19%         2%       -14
August         9%        29%         43%          18%         1%       -13
July           9%        33%         38%          20%         1%       -14
June           7%        33%         36%          24%         1%       -10
May            7%        36%         30%          27%         1%       -11
April          6%        34%         32%          27%         1%        -8
March          8%        32%         39%          20%         1%       -13
February       5%        36%         37%          22%         0%       -12
January        6%        32%         35%          24%         0%       -10
How do your current profit margins compare with "normal" times?
            Much   Somewhat       About     Somewhat       Much Diffusion
            Less       Less      Normal      Greater    Greater    Index*
2017
September      7%        34%         52%           7%         0%       -21
August         8%        31%         46%          12%         0%       -18
July           5%        38%         38%          17%         0%       -16
June           4%        41%         43%          12%         0%       -18
May            9%        34%         46%          10%         0%       -22
April          7%        33%         48%          12%         0%       -18
March          9%        34%         46%          12%         0%       -19
February       8%        37%         41%          13%         0%       -21
January       10%        31%         44%          14%         1%       -17
2016
December       9%        34%         45%          11%         1%       -20
November       6%        43%         36%          14%         1%       -20
October        8%        36%         45%          10%         1%       -21
September     11%        36%         39%          12%         2%       -21
August         7%        37%         44%          11%         0%       -20
July          11%        32%         43%          13%         0%       -20
June          11%        31%         39%          19%         0%       -17
May           11%        37%         38%          13%         0%       -23
April          8%        35%         38%          18%         0%       -16
March         12%        34%         35%          18%         1%       -19
February       7%        38%         39%          16%         0%       -19
January        8%        39%         36%          16%         0%       -20
Looking back, how do your unit costs compare with this time last year?
                      About          Up           Up         Up
            Down       Unch    Somewhat Significantly     A Lot      Mean
            <-1% -1% to +1%  1.1% to 3%   3.1% to 5%        >5%
2017
September      3%        23%         65%           5%         4%      1.7%
August         2%        26%         54%          10%         5%      1.7%
July           2%        23%         60%          10%         3%      1.7%
June           3%        18%         66%          11%         3%      1.9%
May            1%        24%         59%          14%         2%      1.8%
April          2%        30%         58%           8%         2%      1.6%
March          3%        22%         63%           8%         4%      1.7%
February       1%        29%         58%           8%         3%      1.7%
January        3%        23%         60%          10%         4%      1.8%
2016
December       3%        24%         60%           9%         3%      1.7%
November       4%        28%         53%          11%         4%      1.7%
October        3%        27%         58%           9%         4%      1.7%
September      3%        28%         61%           7%         1%      1.5%
August         6%        26%         58%           8%         2%      1.5%
July           4%        31%         55%           7%         3%      1.5%
June           6%        27%         58%           8%         1%      1.4%
May            9%        18%         62%           9%         2%      1.5%
April          9%        28%         56%           6%         0%      1.2%
March          8%        24%         62%           6%         0%      1.3%
February      10%        30%         53%           6%         1%      1.2%
January        8%        27%         54%           9%         2%      1.4%
*The diffusion index is calculated as an average response such that each
response of much less is assigned a value of -100; somewhat less is
assigned a value of -50; about normal, 0; somewhat greater, 50; and much
greater, 100. Therefore, a positive index value implies that the
indicator is greater, on average, and a negative index value implies
that the indicator is lower, on average.
      ** MNI Washington Bureau (202) 371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MTABLE,MMUFE$,MGU$$$,MFU$$$]

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