The cost of living rose less than forecast in May, restrained by the first drop in food prices in almost four years and signaling inflation remains under control. The consumer price index was up 0.1 percent after falling 0.Lutheran Medical Group is partnering again with Sperry Van Ness / Parke Group to increase small town access to health care.
The two companies, which last month announced plans to build an office for a physician in Roanoke, Wednesday confirmed plans to build a 4,168-square-foot office in Leo that will house two doctors. The one-story building will be at 10429 Hosler Road. Officials expect patients to come from as far away as northwest Ohio.
Sperry Van Ness / Parke Group is the developer for the $1 million project now under construction. Lutheran Medical Group is the tenant.
The office building will include six exam rooms, a procedure room and an area for lab work.
The layout is almost identical to the office now being constructed in Roanoke and scheduled to open in mid-August, said Geoff Thomas, Lutheran Health Network spokesman. The main difference is the Roanoke office building will have a lower level for storage and potential growth.
“Lutheran Medical Group’s objective with some of its newer facility projects was to find a great blueprint and repeat it when possible to save on the cost of design work,” Thomas said in an email.
Wholesale stockpiles swell while sales slide
U.S. wholesale companies added modestly to their stockpiles in May. But sales at the wholesale level dropped by the largest amount in three years, a troubling sign for future growth.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that wholesale stockpiles rose 0.3 percent in May. That followed a 0.5 percent increase in April, which was revised lower from an initially reported 1.1 percent gain.
But sales at the wholesale level fell 0.8 percent in May, the biggest decline since March 2009.
Greater restocking means companies ordered more goods, which increases factory production. But the broader economic benefits from faster restocking were likely offset by the decline in sales.
U.S. trade deficit shrinks 3.8 percent
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in May as falling crude oil prices and weakening demand for consumer goods trimmed the import bill.
The gap shrank 3.8 percent to $48.7 billion, in line with the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, from $50.6 billion in April, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday. Purchases from abroad fell to the lowest level in three months, while exports climbed to the second-highest on record.
Slowing global growth, which led central banks from Europe to China to cut interest rates and announce more stimulus on July 5, may mean purchases of American-made goods will cool, analysts said.
Corn crop forecast slashed by drought
The United States cut its corn harvest estimate 12 percent and said inventories next year will be smaller than forecast in June as the worst Midwest drought since 1988 erodes prospects for a record crop.
Farmers will harvest 12.97 billion bushels (329.45 million metric tons), down from a June prediction of 14.79 billion, the Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday. Analysts expected 13.53 billion, based on the average of 14 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Inventories before the 2013 harvest may be 1.18 billion bushels.
