Economic Growth, Manufacturing Readings Improve At End Of 2022

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but the Metals Service Center Institute also offers industrial metals industry-specific data products that provide much deeper analysis and insight.

Visit MSCI’s website and click on industry data to learn more about our Metals Activity Report (MAR),  Momentum Monitors, and Economic Opportunity and Risk Tracker. Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• Real gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter of 2022 according to the federal government’s third and final estimate. In the second estimate, the increase in real GDP was just 2.9 percent. The updated estimates primarily reflected upward revisions to consumer spending and nonresidential fixed investment. Read the full report here. In related news: The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index, a key indicator of future growth, fell one percent in November 2022 to 113.5 while the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s National Activity Index, another predictor of growth, fell to -0.05 in October, down from +0.17 in September. Read that report here.
• Canada’s gross domestic product expanded by 0.1 percent from September 2022 to October 2022. The service sector grew for the six month in a row while goods-producing industries contracted for the fourth straight month. Leading the decline was a two percent drop in the oil and gas sector. Read the full report here.
• The manufacturing sectors in some U.S. regions seemed to strengthen last month while other parts of the country continued to struggle. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, manufacturing activity in the Midwest declined in December at a slightly faster pace than it did during November. Specifically, the composite index was -9 in December, down from -6 in November. The slower pace in factory growth was driven by decreased activity in printing, wood products, machinery manufacturing, and food manufacturing. Read the full report here.
• During the same month, however, the Texas manufacturing sector improved. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said growth in its region resumed in December. The bank’s production index rose nine points to +9.7 and the new orders reading rose to -9.2 from -20.9. Capacity utilization in Texas also returned to positive territory. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reported that its composite manufacturing index increased to +1 in last month from -9 in November. Each of its three component indexes — shipments, new orders and employment — improved. Read that full report here.
• New residential construction in the United States fell 0.5 percent from October 2022 to November 2022. Single-family housing starts declined 4.1 percent and now are progressing at their slowest pace since May 2020. From November 2021 to November 2022, total housing starts dropped 16.4 percent. Find the full report here. Existing home sales in the United States also declined in November. Read more here.
• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, during the week that ended December 24, 225,000 individuals filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time. While that number was an increase of 9,000 over the previous week’s level, the four-week moving average of first time claims fell. The number of people who continued to receive jobless benefits rose to 1.71 million for the week that ended December 17 from 1.751 million the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose, however. Read the full report here.
• In other economic news: U.S. personal incomes increased 0.4 percent from October 2022 to November 2022 while personal consumption, a key gauge of inflation, increased 0.1 percent.