Investors Welcome New Economic Data

Financial markets closed out the week on a record high Friday as investors reflected on a flurry of reports that seemed to signal continued economic growth and little inflation.

In reports this week:

The Labor Department said Tuesday consumer prices inched up 0.1 percent in May, in line with analysts’ expectations. A drop in the cost of gasoline, airfares and tobacco helped restrain an overall rise in the consumer price index to 2.2 percent this year, the lowest rise in a decade.

Excluding energy, the consumer price index in May accelerated 0.2 percent.

Productivity by workers during the first three months of the year grew at the fastest rate in three years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

First-quarter productivity rose at an annual rate of 2.6 percent, the biggest gain since 1993 and significantly higher than the 2.0 percent increase originally reported. Labor costs rose 2.4 percent, compared with a 2.5 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

The Commerce Department said exports rose 0.2 percent in April to a record $78.4 billion.

The overall U.S. trade deficit widened to $8.4 billion in April from a revised $7.8 billion in March, though, as increased demand for imports outstripped the export gains. The deficit with Japan rose 5.0 percent from a month earlier.