Chinese Crude Steel Output Sets Record And Is The U.S. Economy As Strong As It Seems?
- China’s crude steel output in April exceeded the previous record high, which was in August 2020. Average crude steel output rose by 7.6 percent in April from the month before. Read more here.
- Is the U.S. economy as strong as some people think it is? Perhaps not. Citi’s Economic Surprise Index, which measures the degree to which economic data is either beating or missing analysts’ expectations, is at its lowest level in nearly a year. That means the real data is not as strong as analysts had expected. Interested in learning more? Read Bloomberg’s report here.
- Meanwhile, the Conference Board Leading Economic Index, a key indicator of future economic growth in the United States, rose by 1.6 percent in April to 113.3, following a 1.3 percent increase in March and a 0.1 percent decline in February.
- According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the manufacturing sector in its region remained strong in May. The bank’s headline general business conditions index was little changed at 24.3 and new orders and shipments continued to expand strongly, and unfilled orders all increased. Looking ahead, firms remained optimistic that conditions would improve over the next six months, and expected significant increases in employment and prices. Read the full report here. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index for current manufacturing activity decreased 19 points to +31.5 in May, after reaching historically high readings in March and April. More than 43 percent of the firms reported increases in current activity in May, down from 59 percent in April, while 12 percent reported decreases, up from eight percent last month. Read the full report here.
- In other economic news: according to Statistics Canada, retail sales in the country were up 3.6 percent to $57.6 billion in March, led by higher sales at building material and garden equipment; the Canadian Consumer Price Index rose 3.4 percent between April 2020 and April 2021, up from a 2.2 percent gain in March; the number of new homes under construction in the United States rose 0.3 percent between March 2021 and April 2021 and 60.9 percent between April 2020 and April 2021; existing U.S. homes sales fell 2.7 percent from March to April, but were up 33.9 percent year-over-year; and Canadian home sales fell 12.5 percent from March 2021 to April 2021, with the average selling price also declining slightly. More here.