EPI Drops 2.9% Year-to-Date in August

Last month’s EPI was a mixed bag. Overall, the August EPI increased 0.2% over July 2009, but dropped 2.9% from August 2008. Yet several categories saw some relatively sizeable month-to-month increases, including power cable (+12.3%); switchgear (+1.4%); telephone (+1.1%); and hand & power tools (+1.0%). Fasteners registered the biggest month-to-month decline (-0.9%).