Economy in Brief

• Industrial production gained 0.8% m/m, with manufacturing output up 0.9%. • Motor vehicle production rebounded 6.7%. • Capacity utilization highest since February 2020, before the pandemic. Industrial production rose 0.8% m/m (16.3% [...]

• Inventory gains appear to be stalling. • April business sales built on March gains. • Inventory-to-sales ratio continued to decline. Total business inventories edged down 0.2% (+1.3% y/y) during April reversing the 0.2% March rise. [...]

• Decline follows an early-spring surge and stimulus checks. • Sales weakness is broad-based. • April & March readings were upwardly revised. Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments declined 1.3% during [...]

• May jump led by 1.5% m/m surge in prices of final demand goods. • Y/Y increases in both headline and core indexes highest in series history. • Final demand food prices up 2.6% m/m; energy prices up 2.2% m/m. The Producer Price Index [...]

• Gasoline prices reach seven-year high. • Crude oil prices climb to highest level since October 2018. • Natural gas prices improve further. Retail gasoline prices rose to $3.07 per gallon (46.3% y/y) in the week ended June 14 from [...]

Euro area industrial production rose by 0.8% in April, advancing for the second month in a row. Manufacturing output rose by 0.4% in April gaining also for the second month in a row, but it is still below its level output as of [...]

• Framing lumber prices retreat after extraordinary gains. • Metals prices soften. • Prospects for prices remain good. The Industrial Materials Price Index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), [...]

• Federal government borrows $1.543 trillion, seasonally adjusted annual rate. • Households also borrow more than $1 trillion. Borrowing in U.S. financial markets and institutions was sizable in Q1 2021, but was similar in absolute [...]