国际英语新闻：U.S. prices down as crisis bites

BEIJING, Nov. 17 -- The cost of living in the United States probably fell in October by the most in almost 60 years, while manufacturing and homebuilding sank deeper into a recession, economists said before reports this week.

    Consumer prices probably dropped 0.8 percent last month, the most since 1949, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Builders broke ground on the fewest houses in at least a half century and factory output weakened further, other reports may show.

    Commodity costs plunged in October when the economy, which descended last quarter, went into free fall as credit and financial markets collapsed. Slumping sales are forcing retailers to lower prices, giving the Federal Reserve scope to keep cutting interest rates to limit the damage.

    The Labor Department's consumer-price report is due on Wednesday. Fuel, clothing and auto costs probably dropped last month as sales at U.S. retailers fell 2.8 percent, the most since records began in 1992, economists said.

    The slump in crude oil is feeding through to prices at the pump where the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline plunged 17 percent last month to 3.08 dollars.

    Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.2 percent last month after a 0.1-percent gain the prior month, according to the survey median.

    A report from the Labor Department tomorrow may foreshadow the drop in retail costs. Wholesale prices fell 1.8 percent last month, the most since records began in 1947, according to economists surveyed.

　　Shutdowns

    As sales fall, manufacturers are cutting output and firing workers. Ford plans temporary shutdowns at nine North American plants this quarter after an 18-percent drop in U.S. sales this year, the car maker said last week.

    Auto cutbacks probably pushed down manufacturing output last month, economists said a report from the Fed today may show. Overall industrial production, which includes factories, mines and utilities, rose 0.2 percent in October, led by a resumption of work at Gulf Coast refineries after Hurricane Ike.

    The economic slump will intensify this quarter and persist into the first three months of 2009, making it the longest downturn since 1974-75, say economists, and the housing recession at the heart of the economic downturn shows no signs of letting up.