New Signals Help To Calm Wall Street

Wall Street shrugged off inflation jitters Friday as investors found nothing alarming in a pair of new economic reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 81.99 to 7,742.97, recovering from a 53-point deficit at midday. For the week, however, the Dow lost 79.44 points.

In one of two economic reports released Friday, the Labor Department said the Producer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in August, ending a string of seven consecutive declines.

Even with the August increase, caused by a temporary jump in gasoline prices, the index has fallen at an annual rate of 2.2 percent this year.

Also Friday, the Commerce Department said retail sales edged up 0.4 percent last month. The gain was smaller than many analysts expected, but the weakness was concentrated in areas economists think are less reflective of underlying consumer demand: food stores, restaurants and drug stores.

Auto dealers, department stores, building-supply and hardware stores, furniture stores and clothing and accessory shops all reported healthy gains of between 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent.

In another report this week:

The Labor Department said non-farm business productivity - output per hour worked - grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.7 percent, nearly double the 1.4 percent rate of the first quarter.