Economy in Brief: May 2021

• Jobs expand for a fourth consecutive month. • Improvement extends throughout company size. • Factory & construction workforces continue strong. Job market improvement continued last month as businesses reopened and Covid-19 [...]

• Gasoline prices continue upward. • Crude oil prices also continue to edge higher. • Natural gas prices strengthen. The price of regular gasoline rose 2 cents to $2.89 a gallon (61.5% y/y) in the week ended May 3 from $2.87 per [...]

• Factory order gains are broad-based. • Shipments reverse sharp February decline. • Order backlogs & inventories continue to move up. New orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1% in March (16.1% y/y) after February's 0.5% easing. [...]

On its trade account, Canada has logged six monthly surpluses in the last six and one-quarter years. In March, the trade data are coming off a string of two surpluses in a row. Despite the surplus rarity, Canada's surpluses have [...]

Last week the Biden administration announced that it is contemplating a further major package of fiscal policy measures for the US economy. While the size of the package that is being touted caught the imagination of many observers it [...]

• Exports & improve moderately. • Oil prices lift petroleum imports. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $74.4 billion during March from February's $70.5 billion, revised from $71.1 billion. The deficit was a [...]

• Car & light truck sales have risen sharply so far this year. • Imports' share of market moves higher. U.S. sales of light vehicles increased last month as COVID-19 vaccines became more readily available. The Autodata Corporation [...]

The Markit PMIs rose on a broad basis this month. Although they had risen more broadly in the past, this month’s rise is impressive. What this month brings that is most compelling is a paucity of anything but episodic weakness (only [...]