greenbooks · September 7, 1964
Greenbook/Tealbook
Prefatory Note
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of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. This electronic document was created
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Content last modified 6/05/2009.
CONFIDENTIAL (FR)
SUPPLEIENT
CURRENT ECONOiiIC AND FINANCIAL CONDITIONS
Prepared for the
Federal Open Narket Committee
By the Staff
Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System
September 4,
1964.
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES
The Domestic Economy
the labor force in August were small after allowance
Changes in
for seasonal factors.
The unemployment rate increased from 4.9 per cent
of the civilian labor force in July to 5.1 per cent in August, the
same as the average since April.
The unemployment rate for adult men
was unchanged in August at 3.7 per cent and for married men it declined
slightly to 2.6 per cent.
Unemployment rates for adult women and
teenagers returned to the June levels of 5.1 and 15.0 per cent,
respectively,
after declining somewhat in July.
The civilian labor force rose slightly and at 74.3 million was
up 1,350,000 from a year earlier.
This increase was 250,000 more
than expected on the basis of long-run trends in labor force participation rates.
Total employment was 1.5 million higher than a year ago.
For workers
first
covered under the minimum wage law by the
1961 amendments, the minimum wage increased on September 3 to $1.15
an hour from $1.00.
The 1961 amendments extended coverage to 3.6
million workers, principally in large retail trade and service
establishments.
The change will affect about 565,000 workers who
were receiving less than the new minimum.
Seasonally adjusted new construction activity dipped 1 per cent
in August,
July.
following a 2 per cent upuard revision to a new high in
The annual rate of $66.0 billion in August was 4 per cent above
the rising rate a year earlier; this compared with a year-to-year
gain of 8 per cent in the first 3 months as a whole.
Private
construction expenditures changed little in August as residential
activity continued at about its reduced earlier rate while nonresidential
expenditures moved higher.
Public construction, which was revised upuard
by 4 per cent for July, declined 3 per cent in August.
Nonfarm business has raised somewhat its plans to spend on
new plant and equipment this year, according to the Commerce-SEC survey
conducted in August.
Outlays are now projected at $44.2 billion this
year, up $5 billion or 12.7 per cent from 1963.
Last May businesses
were planning a 12.0 per cent rise and last February, a 10.1 per cent
rise.
Fixed capital outlays are now indicated to rise $5 billion
(annual rate), or 12 per cent, from the fourth quarter of last year to
the fourth quarter this year, compared with $4.2 billion, or 10.2
per cent, planned last 6ay.
The new quarterly pattern of total expenditures is compared
below with the pattern indicated by the Iay survey (figures are in
billions of dollars, at seasonally adjusted annual rates):
iay survey
August survey
1963
Q-IV
(-I
41.20
41.20
42.55
42.55
1964
Q-II
Q-III
Q-IV
43.35
43.50
44.30
44.55
45.40
46.15
The upward revision in planned expenditures for 1964 was
primarily the result of small increases in fixed capital programs of
all major nonmanufacturing industry groups.
Within manufacturing,
durable goods producers reported some expansion while nondurable
goods firms revised earlier anticipations slightly downward.
NEW PLANT AND EQUIPHENT EXPENDITURES
(Billions of dollars)
All industries
Nanufacturing industries
Durable goods
Nondurable goods
ining
Railroad
Transportation
(other than rail)
Public utilities
Communication, commercial
and other
Per cent
1963
1964
Per cent
39.22
44.21
12,7
15.69
7.85
7.84
1.04
1.10
18.27
S.19
9.08
1.12
1.46
16
17
16
8
33
1.92
5.65
2.31
6.07
20
7
13.82
14.98
8
._........ncreae
Note.--Based on August Commerce-SEC survey.
The Domestic Financial Situation
Bank credit, seasonally adjusted, is estimated to have shoun a
large rise in August, possibly as much as $4 billion, following a
$900 million decline in July.
For the too months combined, the $3
billion increase represents continuation of the 7 per cent annual
growth rate which prevailed over the first half of this year,
The drop in July and large rise in August mainly reflects the
unusual pattern of Treasury financing this summer, vhen the customary
large July financing vas omitted and some borrowing was scheduled in
the usually dormant month of August.
As a result, seasonally adjusted
holdings of Government securities showed a sharp decline in July and
probably about an offsetting rise in August.
Holdings of municipal
and other securities, after showing little change in July, also rose
sharply in August, and for the two months increased considerably faster
than the 7-1/2 per cent annual rate of the first half.
.4"
Loan expansion in August is estimated on a preliminary basis at
$1.6 billion, a little more than the average so far this year.
But
excluding security loans, the annual growth rate for July and August
combined of 11 per cent is close to that in the first half and for the
year 1963.
The rate of expansion in consumer and real estate loans is
continuing at about the same rate that has prevailed all year and in
1963.
Business loan expansion, which had accelerated somewhat beginning
in April after a first-quarter lull, has continued since the first
quarter at a rate of about $500 million per month or 11 per cent on an
annual basis.
While this is somewhat above last year's 9 per cent
rise, the rate since December has been a little below 9 per cent.
The increased strength in business loan demand since the first
quarter has stemmed mainly from construction, miscellaneous manufacturing,
and more recently from public utilities.
Outstanding loans to trade
concerns, which had expanded rapidly for part of the second quarter,
recently have been fluctuating widely, with no clear indication of
trend.
Loans to metals and to petroleum and chemicals companies continue
to show about the usual seasonal movements, while those to the textiles
and apparel group, where cash flows recently have been boosted substantially by equalization payments under this year's cotton legislation,
have been increasing much less than seasonally.
Money supply now is estimated at $157.1 million in August,
$400 million higher than in July.
The rate of expansion slowed in
August from the rapid rate of the two preceding months.
Through
August the seasonally adjusted annual rate of expansion for the
year to date is 3.8 per cent,
Prices in the corporate bond market weakened further this week.
The corporate new issue yield series rose to 4.46 per cent, 9 basis
points above the summer low and within 7 basis points of the 2-1/2
year high reached in early Mvay.
This yield, however, was based
entirely on the $40 million Southern California Gas Company issue
which was re-offered at a yield level 3 basis points above those
quoted on comparably rated recent offerings in the secondary market.
In two days of trading 80 per cent of the issue was sold.
Yields on
seasoned, municipal bonds held unchanged in the current week, continuing
the stability that has prevailed since early August.
International Developments
U. S. exports increased in July and by slightly more than
imports.
Both exports and imports had dipped in June.
The July trade
surplus was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $6.3 billion as
compared with $6.0 billion in the second quarter, but was still below
the $7.0 billion surplus recorded in the first quarter.
Cite this document
APA
Federal Reserve (1964, September 7). Greenbook/Tealbook. Greenbooks, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/greenbook_19640908_part3
BibTeX
@misc{wtfs_greenbook_19640908_part3,
author = {Federal Reserve},
title = {Greenbook/Tealbook},
year = {1964},
month = {Sep},
howpublished = {Greenbooks, Federal Reserve},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/greenbook_19640908_part3},
note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}