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Economic Indicators

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Business Formation Statistics icon

Business Formation Statistics

Total U.S. Business Applications were 500,219 in May 2021, up 1.2% from April 2021.

Released:
June 10, 2021

Next Release:
July 15, 2021

May 2021

+1.2°
% change

April 2021 (r)

+9.6°
% change

Quarterly Services Survey icon

Quarterly Services Survey

The estimate of U.S. selected services total revenue for the first quarter of 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, was $4,199.7 billion, an increase of 2.4 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from the fourth quarter of 2020 and up 4.5 percent (+/- 0.6 percent) from the first quarter of 2020.

Released:
June 10, 2021

Next Release:
August 19, 2021

1st Qtr 2021

+2.4
% change

4th Qtr 2020 (r)

+4.5
% change

Monthly Wholesale Trade icon

Monthly Wholesale Trade

April 2021 sales of merchant wholesalers were $570.8 billion, up 0.8 percent (+/- 0.4 percent) from last month. End-of-month inventories were $698.0 billion, up 0.8 percent (+/- 0.4 percent) from last month.

Released:
June 9, 2021

Next Release:
July 9, 2021

April 2021

+0.8
% change in Inventories

March 2021 (r)

+1.2
% change in Inventories

Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade icon

Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade

Seasonally adjusted after-tax profits for retail corporations with assets of $50 million and over were $47.5 billion for the first quarter 2021 (the 3 months ending April 30, 2021), up $14.0 (+/- 0.4) billion from fourth quarter 2020 (the 3 months ending January 31, 2021).

Released:
June 8, 2021

Next Release:
September 7, 2021

1st Qtr 2021

+14.0
$ billion

4th Qtr 2020 (r)

-9.4
$ billion

Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale Trade, and Selected Service Industries icon

Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale Trade, and Selected Service Industries

Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits were $232.0 billion for the first quarter of 2021, up $98.5 (+/- 0.6) billion from fourth quarter of 2020.

Released:
June 8, 2021

Next Release:
September 7, 2021

1st Qtr 2021

+98.5
$ billion

4th Qtr 2020 (r)

-5.8
$ billion

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services icon

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services

The nation's international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $68.9 billion in April from $75.0 billion in March (revised), as exports increased and imports decreased.

Released:
June 8, 2021

Next Release:
July 2, 2021

April 2021

68.9°
$ billion

March 2021 (r)

75.0°
$ billion

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders icon

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders

New orders for manufactured goods in April decreased $2.9 billion or 0.6 percent to $485.2 billion.

Released:
June 4, 2021

Next Release:
July 2, 2021

April 2021

-0.6°
% change

March 2021 (r)

+1.4°
% change

Construction Spending icon

Construction Spending

Total construction activity for April 2021 ($1,524.2 billion) was 0.2 percent (+/-0.8 percent)* above the revised March 2021 ($1,521.0 billion).

Released:
June 1, 2021

Next Release:
July 1, 2021

April 2021

+0.2*
% change

March 2021 (r)

+1.0*
% change

Advance Monthly Retail Inventories icon

Advance Monthly Retail Inventories

April 2021 end-of-month inventories were $602.9 billion, down 1.6 percent (+/- 0.2%) from last month.

Released:
May 28, 2021

Next Release:
June 24, 2021

April 2021

-1.6
% change in Inventories

March 2021 (r)

-1.4
% change in Inventories

Advance U.S. International Trade in Goods icon

Advance U.S. International Trade in Goods

The advance international trade deficit in goods decreased to $85.2 billion in April from $92.0 billion in March as exports increased and imports decreased.

Released:
May 28, 2021

Next Release:
June 24, 2021

April 2021

85.2°
$ billion

March 2021

92.0°
$ billion

Advance Monthly Wholesale Inventories icon

Advance Monthly Wholesale Inventories

April end-of-month inventories were $698.3 billion, up 0.8 percent (+/- 0.4 percent) from last month.

Released:
May 28, 2021

Next Release:
June 24, 2021

April 2021

+0.8
% change in Inventories

March 2021 (r)

+1.1
% change in Inventories

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

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

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April decreased $3.2 billion or 1.3 percent to $246.2 billion.

Released:
May 27, 2021

Next Release:
June 24, 2021

April 2021

-1.3°
% change

March 2021 (r)

+1.3°
% change

New Residential Sales icon

New Residential Sales

Sales of new single-family houses in April 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 863,000. This is 5.9 percent (+/- 11.2%)* below the revised March 2021 estimate of 917,000.

Released:
May 25, 2021

Next Release:
June 23, 2021

April 2021

-5.9*
% change

March 2021 (r)

+7.4*
% change

New Residential Construction icon

New Residential Construction

Privately-owned housing starts in April 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,569,000. This is 9.5 percent (+/- 10.8%)* below the revised March 2021 estimate of 1,733,000.

Released:
May 18, 2021

Next Release:
June 16, 2021

April 2021

-9.5*
% change

March 2021 (r)

+19.8
% change

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales icon

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales

U.S. total business end-of-month inventories for March 2021 were $2,014.3 billion, up 0.3 percent (+/- 0.1 percent) from last month. U.S. total business sales were $1,638.2 billion, up 5.7 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month.

Released:
May 14, 2021

Next Release:
June 15, 2021

March 2021

+0.3
% change in Inventories

February 2021 (r)

+0.6
% change in Inventories

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services icon

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services

U.S. retail and food services sales for April 2021 were $619.9 billion, virtually unchanged (+/- 0.5 percent)* from the previous month.

Released:
May 14, 2021

Next Release:
June 15, 2021

April 2021

0.0*
% change

March 2021 (r)

+10.7
% change

Rental Vacancy Rate icon

Rental Vacancy Rate

The rental vacancy rate in the first quarter 2021, 6.8 percent, was not statistically different from the rate in the first quarter 2020. The rental vacancy rate in the South was lower than the first quarter 2020 rate. The rental vacancy rates in the Northeast and West were higher than the first quarter 2020 rates. The rental vacancy rate in the Midwest was not statistically different from the first quarter 2020 rate.

Released:
April 27, 2021

Next Release:
July 27, 2021

1st Qtr 2021

+6.8*
percent

1st Qtr 2020

+6.6
percent

Homeownership Rate icon

Homeownership Rate

The homeownership rate in the first quarter 2021, 65.6 percent, was not statistically different from the rate in the first quarter 2020. The homeownership rate in the Midwest was higher than the first quarter 2020 rate. The homeownership rates in the Northeast, South, and West were not statistically different from the first quarter 2020 rate.

Released:
April 27, 2021

Next Release:
July 27, 2021

1st Qtr 2021

+65.6*
percent

1st Qtr 2020

+65.3
percent

(*) The 90% confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.

(°) Statistical significance is not applicable or not measurable for these surveys. The Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders estimates are not based on a probability sample, so we can neither measure the sampling error of these estimates nor compute confidence intervals.

(r) Revised.

All estimates are seasonally adjusted except for the Rental Vacancy Rate and Home Ownership Rate. None of the estimates are adjusted for price changes.

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