U.S., Canadian Post Strong Economic Growth Readings

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but MSCI 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 Pulse.

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

• The U.S. economy grew at a 2.4 percent annualized rate in the second quarter of 2023. That reading was up from two percent growth in the first quarter and was largely due to higher consumer spending. The report also showed a 5.7 percent increase in private domestic investment, a 10.8 percent improvement in equipment purchases, a 9.7 percent rise in structures, and a 2.5 percent increase in defense expenditures. Read the full report here.
• The Canadian economy grew at an annualized rate of one percent in the second quarter. Growth in May was slightly lower than analysts had predicted due to the fact that mining and oil and gas companies reduced their operations in Alberta as wildfires raged. The overall energy sector growth contracted 2.1 percent in May.
• According to local indexes, regional manufacturing readings for July continued to show softness in the sector. Specifically, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said manufacturing activity remained sluggish in the Central Atlantic region in July. The composite manufacturing index fell from -8 in June to -9 in July due mostly to declines in shipments and new orders. The employment index rose from -1 in June to +5 in July, however. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s index showed a decline in manufacturing activity in the Midwest. That bank’s composite index was -11 in July, up from -12 in June, but down from -1 in May. All its month-over-month indexes remained negative except for the number of employees and prices paid for raw materials. Read the full report here.
• The U.S. Department of Labor revealed 221,000 individuals filed for federal unemployment benefits during the week that ended July 22, a number that was down from 228,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of first-time claims was 233,750, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week. During the week that ended July 15, 1.69 million people continued to receive federal jobless benefits, a decrease of 59,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also fell.
• In other economic news: new homes sales in the United States fell 2.5 percent between May 2023 and June 2024, but were up 23.8 percent between June 2022 and June 2023; the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence improved in July as did the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment reading; and while U.S. personal incomes increased 0.3 percent in June 2023, the country’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation, showed inflation slowing to a three percent annualized rate in June, the lowest since March 2021.