Economy in Brief: 2021

• Gasoline prices remain strong versus last year. • Crude oil prices rise further. • Natural gas prices decline again. Retail gasoline prices rose to $3.03 per gallon (53.3% y/y) in the week ended May 31 and recaptured the prior [...]

• Current production, new orders growth and employment ease. • Pricing power remains strong. The Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, indicated that its General Business Activity Index [...]

• Residential building remains strong. • Private nonresidential & public sector building drop again. The value of construction put-in-place improved 0.2% (9.8% y/y) during April following a 1.0% March rise, revised from 0.2%. A 0.6% [...]

• Factory activity expands for 12th consecutive month. • Component movement is mixed. • Pricing power remains strong. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity [...]

• Barometer jumps to highest level since November 1973. • New orders & order backlogs continue to surge. • Delivery speeds slow and pricing power remains strong. The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer strengthened to [...]

• Spending on goods weakens broadly; services purchases rise. • Increase in core prices hits twenty-year high. • Total take-home earnings decline but wages surge. Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.5% during April (28.5% [...]

• Foreign trade deficit narrowed for the first time in four months. • Exports rose while imports fell. The advance estimate of the U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed markedly to $85.23 billion in April from a record $91.98 billion [...]

In Q1, GDP-based operating profits for all US companies were unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2020 and posted a 12.7% gain from the comparable period one year ago. The reported profit performance of S&P 500 companies was markedly [...]