Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders   CHART

New orders for manufactured goods in May increased $4.1 billion or 1.2 percent to $347.9 billion.

Construction Spending   CHART

Total construction activity for May 2009 ($964.0 billion) was 0.9 percent below the revised April 2009 ($972.5 billion). Please see our web site for further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending

New Home Sales   CHART

Sales of new one-family houses in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. This is 0.6% below the revised April 2009 estimate of 344,000.

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders   CHART

New orders for manufactured durable goods in May increased $2.8 billion or 1.8 percent to $163.9 billion.

Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade   CHART

After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets greater than $50 million averaged 1.7 cents per dollar of sales for the first quarter 2009 (the 3 months ending Apr. 30, 2009), up 2.0 (+/- 0.1) cents from the after-tax losses average of 0.3 cents for the fourth quarter 2008 (the 3 months ending Jan. 31, 2009).

Housing Starts/Building Permits   CHART

Privately-owned housing starts in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000. This is 17.2 percent above the revised April 2009 estimate of 454,000.

Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade   CHART

Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits averaged 3.2 cents per dollar of sales for the first quarter of 2009, up 8.2 (+/- 0.1) cents from the after-tax losses average of 4.9 cents for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales   CHART

U.S. total business sales for April were $966.8 billion, down 0.3% from last month. Month-end inventories were $1,384.7 billion, down 1.1% from last month.

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services   CHART

U.S. retail and food service sales for May reached $340.0 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent from the previous month.

Quarterly Services Survey   CHART

U.S. Information sector revenue for the first quarter of 2009, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, was $275.3 billion, a decrease of 0.9 percent (+/- 0.5) from the fourth quarter of 2008.

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services   CHART

The Nation's international deficit in goods and services increased to $29.2 billion in April from $28.5 billion (revised) in March, as exports decreased more than imports.

Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories   CHART

April 2009 sales of merchant wholesalers were $309.4 billion, down 0.4 percent from last month. End-of-month inventories were $405.4 billion, down 1.4 percent from last month.

Housing Vacancies and Homeownership   CHART

Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate (67.3 percent) for the current quarter was lower than the rate in first quarter 2008 (67.8 percent), but not statistically different from the rate in fourth quarter 2008 (67.5 percent).

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in first quarter 2009 (10.1 percent) was not statistically different from the first quarter 2008 rate (10.1 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in first quarter 2009 (2.7 percent) was lower than the first quarter 2008 rate (2.9 percent).