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Breaking News

Consumer Price Index Shows Modest Rise for March

Aired April 17, 2001 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And we've been expecting major economic numbers this morning. And the first of them has just come in. The Consumer Price Index reports a jump of one-tenth of 1 percent in March.

Let's go to Deborah Marchini in New York for that and more -- Deborah.

DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Brian.

Well, inflation seems not to be a problem from this latest report. The Consumer Price Index for March, which measures prices at the retail level, rose one-tenth of 1 percent. That's right in line with what Wall Street expected. Take out food and energy prices, because they tend to bounce around a lot, and you're left with a gain of two-tenths of 1 percent -- again, modest inflation.

Perhaps of more interest and concern to the markets might be what happened to housing starts. They were a little bit weaker than expected, down 1.3 percent. And that's a sign of consumers being concerned about the economy -- Brian.

NELSON: Deborah, thanks very much.

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