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%

2018

June           4%        20%         48%          20%         8%      2.1%

May            5%        21%         45%          20%         6%      2.0%

April          4%        20%         43%          22%        10%      2.3%

March          3%        24%         45%          19%         9%      2.1%

February       3%        22%         45%          21%         6%      2.0%

January        4%        25%         46%          19%         6%      2.0%

2017

December       5%        22%         46%          20%         8%      2.1%

November       3%        24%         46%          20%         6%      2.0%

October        5%        29%         43%          16%         8%      1.8%

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%

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*

2018

June           4%        22%         46%          26%         2%         0

May            5%        21%         41%          28%         3%         1

April          5%        18%         47%          29%         1%         1

March          4%        23%         39%          30%         3%         2

February       3%        21%         41%          29%         3%         5

January        4%        25%         44%          24%         3%        -1

2017

December       6%        33%         40%          18%         3%       -10

November       8%        31%         34%          26%         1%        -9

October        8%        28%         45%          17%         2%       -11

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

How do your current profit margins compare with "normal" times?

            Much   Somewhat       About     Somewhat       Much Diffusion

            Less       Less      Normal      Greater    Greater    Index*

2018

June           5%        27%         55%          12%         0%       -13

May            4%        32%         44%          17%         0%       -12

April          5%        33%         47%          15%         0%       -14

March          4%        33%         47%          16%         0%       -12

February       4%        26%         52%          14%         1%        -9

January        6%        28%         52%          14%         0%       -13

2017

December       9%        37%         38%          17%         0%       -19

November       8%        35%         41%          17%         0%       -17

October       11%        26%         50%          12%         1%       -18

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

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%

2018

June           1%        20%         59%          17%         4%      2.0%

May            3%        18%         61%          10%         6%      1.9%

April          1%        17%         64%          12%         7%      2.1%

March          3%        21%         61%          11%         4%      1.9%

February       0%        24%         62%           8%         4%      1.8%

January        1%        18%         68%           9%         5%      2.0%

2017

December       3%        23%         60%          12%         3%      1.8%

November       4%        23%         59%          10%         4%      1.7%

October        3%        30%         52%           9%         5%      1.7%

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%

*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$,MTABLE,M$U$$$]