U.S. Steel Imports Fell In April While Manufacturing Readings Are Mixed

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

• According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. steel imports fell 12 percent from March 2022 to April 2022 due to lower shipments of sheet products and semi-finished steel. Between April 2021 and April 2022, total steel imports were up three percent. Meanwhile, steel output was up in China in May. Read more here.
• New orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose 0.3 percent in April to $533.2 billion while shipments increased 0.2 percent to $532.1 billion. Unfilled orders jumped 0.5 percent to nearly $1.11 trillion and the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.07, up from 6.06 in March. Inventories increased 0.6 percent to $786.1 billion and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.48, up from 1.47 in March.
• The S&P Global Canada manufacturing PMI increased to 56.8 in May from 56.2 in April. The output index rose to 55.6 from 54.8 in April due to greater client demand while workforces expanded at the fastest pace since December 2020. Meanwhile, Canada’s gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with a revised rate of 6.6 percent over the final three months of 2021.
• The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing PMI for the United States rose to 56.1 percent in May from 55.4 percent in April. New orders and production both improved. Read the full report here.
• Regional U.S. manufacturing readings were mixed in May. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Texas factory activity expanded at a fairly robust pace as production and shipments both increased. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said its manufacturing index fell from +14 in April to 09 in May due to reduced readings for shipments, new orders, and employment. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said its composite index was +23 in May, down from 25 in April. New orders, employment, and order backlogs rose at a faster pace while shipments fell modestly.
• The U.S. Labor Department announced the U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May, compared to a net job gain of 428,000 in April 2022. The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. Manufacturers added 18,000 jobs. The number of U.S. job openings fell slightly to 11.4 million April, but is still far higher than the historical average. The largest increases in the number of openings were in transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+97,000); nondurable goods manufacturing (+67,000); and durable goods manufacturing (+53,000). In all, there were 996,000 manufacturing job openings in April, an all-time high.
• The United States is not the only country dealing with labor shortages. There were one million jobs open in Canada in March, a number that was up more than 22 percent from the previous month. Read more here.
• In other economic news: U.S. construction spending increased 0.2 percent between March 2022 and April 2022 and 12.3 percent between April 2021 and April 2022; U.S. new home sales fell 16.6 percent between March and April and 26.9 percent year-over-year; U.S. labor productivity fell 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022 as output decreased 2.3 percent and hours worked increased 5.4 percent; the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell to 106.4 in May from 108.6 in April; and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 58.4 last month from 65.2 in April.