Economy in Brief: May 2021

After plunging in February, Canada's orders recouped and gained back most of those losses in one month rising by 5.2% in March. Despite what is clearly still a great deal of volatility, Canadian orders are accelerating their rate of [...]

• Size of inventory gain is reduced from earlier two months. • Business sales surge. • Inventory-to-sales ratio declines sharply. Total business inventories rose 0.3% (-0.0% y/y) during March following a 0.6% February rise, revised [...]

• Import and export price increases very close to expected amounts. • Food and fuel prices push import costs. • Industrial supplies & materials lift export prices; other items much less vigorous. Import and export price increases were [...]

• Stability follows near record March strength. • Weakness was broad-based. • March reading was upwardly revised. The consumer took a breather after store re-openings and government-issued $1,400 checks stimulated spending during [...]

• Industrial production gained 0.7% m/m, with manufacturing output up 0.4%. • Shortage of semiconductors continues to affect vehicle production. • Chemical production rose 3.2%. Industrial production rose 0.7% m/m (16.5% y/y) in [...]

Last year in April the virus plunged Japan's current and future Economy Watchers Indexes to their lows. Both sprang back very strongly and by June they had attained levels that actually both are higher than the April 2021 readings [...]

• Budget deficit exceeds expectations. • Coronavirus-related outlays balloon. • Individual tax receipts strengthen with economic improvement. The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal budget deficit of $1.932 trillion for the [...]

IP data and trends in Europe and the EMU remain mixed. While consumer spending data are showing a clear trend to rebound, the output data can’t be said to be there. But they do seem to be on the verge. In the EMU, manufacturing in the [...]