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%

2019

March           5%        23%         46%          20%         6%      1.9%

February        7%        23%         44%          18%         7%      1.9%

January         6%        21%         46%          19%         7%      2.0%

2018

December        4%        17%         47%          22%        10%      2.3%

November        5%        20%         42%          22%        10%      2.2%

October         4%        18%         47%          22%        10%      2.3%

September       4%        20%         48%          20%         8%      2.2%

August          5%        21%         44%          23%         7%      2.1%

July            4%        23%         47%          19%         7%      2.1%

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%

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*

2019

March           4%        29%         39%          26%         3%        -2

February        6%        21%         50%          22%         1%        -4

January         6%        25%         43%          25%         1%        -5

2018

December        6%        32%         40%          20%         2%       -10

November        9%        22%         38%          29%         2%        -4

October        10%        18%         50%          21%         2%        -6

September       8%        22%         47%          23%         1%        -6

August          5%        21%         46%          27%         0%        -2

July            5%        25%         42%          24%         5%        -1

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

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

             Much   Somewhat       About     Somewhat       Much Diffusion

             Less       Less      Normal      Greater    Greater    Index*

2019

March           7%        31%         47%          15%         0%       -15

February        7%        33%         47%          13%         0%       -17

January        11%        35%         41%          13%         0%       -22

2018

December        6%        38%         46%          10%         0%       -20

November       10%        32%         45%          11%         1%       -19

October        10%        32%         42%          16%         1%       -17

September       8%        34%         46%          12%         0%       -18

August          5%        32%         50%          13%         0%       -14

July            4%        28%         51%          15%         2%        -8

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

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%

2019

March           4%        19%         56%          17%         4%      2.0%

February        2%        28%         51%          14%         6%      1.9%

January         2%        18%         59%          15%         6%      2.1%

2018

December        2%        16%         57%          18%         7%      2.2%

November        4%        18%         52%          19%         7%      2.2%

October         2%        17%         57%          14%         9%      2.2%

September       2%        18%         64%          10%         6%      2.0%

August          2%        19%         60%          13%         5%      2.0%

July            1%        26%         58%          11%         5%      1.9%

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%

*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$$$]