The important exceptions to stable or falling prices are ethylene and polyethylene, whose prices increased 5 cents or more per pound in recent weeks. A combination of unanticipated and planned outages left customers scrambling for supplies. Stocks were already low, as customers were unwilling to carry inventories while prices fell, and the outages pulled these inventories even lower. The price increases are expected to reverse as capacity returns to production. All loan categories report strong gains, except for commercial and energy lending.
Consumer lending is particularly strong, with two respondents reporting record auto loans.
Deposit growth has not weakened, and respondents were generally pleased with their deposit positions. They report ample funds in investments to support further loan growth. For a copy of this publication, write to Bill Gilmer, Houston Branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, P.O. Box 2578, Houston, Texas 77252. This publication is available on the Internet . The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.