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Employment climate improves

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's employment climate improved, stores rang up sales and factories boosted production last month, fresh signs the economy is chugging ahead at a respectable pace.

That was the latest snapshot of economic activity presented Wednesday in the Federal Reserve's survey of business conditions.

The survey also found that retail prices were "generally flat or up modestly." Some companies, affected by higher prices for fuel, steel and other raw materials, were more inclined to pass along some of these costs to customers, the survey said.

These indicators of inflation, jobs and other economic conditions will be discussed by Fed policymakers when they next meet, on March 22. To keep inflation and the economy on an even keel, the Fed has pushed up short-term interest rates six times -- each in one-quarter percentage point moves -- since June 2004.

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