Canadian Manufacturing Sales Up Slightly

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Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• Canadian manufacturing sales increased 1.1 percent to $70.8 billion in April, and March sales were revised to a decline of 1.8 percent versus a 2.1 percent decrease that originally was reported. The improvement in April was mainly due to higher sales of transportation equipment, primary metals, and chemical products, which, for the month, increased 4.1 percent, 4.7 percent, and four percent, respectively.
• Canadian wholesale sales increased 2.4 percent in April due to increases in five of seven subsectors. The improvement was led by the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector, where sales increased 10.2 percent to their highest level since November 2023.
• Sales from U.S. merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $663.8 billion in April 2024, up 0.1 percent from March 2024 and 1.4 percent from April 2023. Inventories rose 0.1 percent for the month, but were down 1.7 percent year-over-year. The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.35, down from 1.39 in April 2023.
• The National Federation of Independent Business’ Small Business Optimism Index reached its highest reading of 2024 in May, hitting 90.5, a 0.8-point increase from April. While obviously welcome, the index still has spent 29 months below its historical average of 98. The uncertainty index rose nine points to 85, the highest reading since November 2020, while 22 percent of owners reported inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business.
• The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits for the first time stood at 242,000 during the week that ended June 8, a number that was up 13,000 from the week before. Averaged over the past four weeks, first-time claims rose to 227,000, an increase from the previous week’s average. In all, roughly 1.82 million people claimed jobless benefits during the week that ended June 1.
• In other economic news: in the United States, the Producer Price Index fell 0.2 percent from April 2024 to May 2024, but increased 2.2 percent between May 2023 and May 2024; prices for U.S. imports decreased 0.4 percent in May while U.S. export prices fell 0.6 percent; the U.S. Consumer Price Index was unchanged between April 2024 and May 2024, but was up 3.3 percent between year-over-year; and real average hourly earnings increased 0.5 percent from April to May and 0.8 percent year-over-year.