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Economic Indicators

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New Residential Construction icon

New Residential Construction

Privately-owned housing starts in June 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,643,000. This is 6.3 percent (+/- 11.5%)* above the revised May 2021 estimate of 1,546,000.

Released:
July 20, 2021

Next Release:
August 18, 2021

June 2021

+6.3*
% change

May 2021 (r)

+2.1*
% change

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales icon

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales

U.S. total business end-of-month inventories for May 2021 were $2,039.3 billion, up 0.5 percent (+/- 0.1 percent) from last month. U.S. total business sales were $1,615.9 billion, down 0.3 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month.

Released:
July 16, 2021

Next Release:
August 17, 2021

May 2021

+0.5
% change in Inventories

April 2021 (r)

+0.1*
% 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 June 2021 were $621.3 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent (+/- 0.5 percent) from the previous month.

Released:
July 16, 2021

Next Release:
August 17, 2021

June 2021

+0.6
% change

May 2021 (r)

-1.7
% change

Business Formation Statistics icon

Business Formation Statistics

Total U.S. Business Applications were 448,533 in June 2021, down 9.8% from May 2021.

Released:
July 15, 2021

Next Release:
August 11, 2021

June 2021

-9.8°
% change

May 2021 (r)

+0.5°
% change

Monthly Wholesale Trade icon

Monthly Wholesale Trade

May 2021 sales of merchant wholesalers were $576.5 billion, up 0.8 percent (+/- 0.5 percent) from last month. End-of-month inventories were $709.8 billion, up 1.3 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month.

Released:
July 9, 2021

Next Release:
August 6, 2021

May 2021

+1.3
% change in Inventories

April 2021 (r)

+1.1
% change in Inventories

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders icon

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders

New orders for manufactured goods in May increased $8.1 billion or 1.7 percent to $495.5 billion.

Released:
July 2, 2021

Next Release:
August 3, 2021

May 2021

+1.7°
% change

April 2021 (r)

-0.1°
% change

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 increased to $71.2 billion in May from $69.1 billion in April (revised), as imports increased more than exports.

Released:
July 2, 2021

Next Release:
August 5, 2021

May 2021

71.2°
$ billion

April 2021 (r)

69.1°
$ billion

Construction Spending icon

Construction Spending

Total construction activity for May 2021 ($1,545.3 billion) was 0.3 percent (+/-1.0 percent)* below the revised April 2021 ($1,549.5 billion).

Released:
July 1, 2021

Next Release:
August 2, 2021

May 2021

-0.3*
% change

April 2021 (r)

+0.1*
% change

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 May increased $5.7 billion or 2.3 percent to $253.3 billion.

Released:
June 24, 2021

Next Release:
July 27, 2021

May 2021

+2.3°
% change

April 2021 (r)

-0.8°
% change

Advance U.S. International Trade in Goods icon

Advance U.S. International Trade in Goods

The advance international trade deficit in goods increased to $88.1 billion in May from $85.7 billion in April as exports decreased and imports increased.

Released:
June 24, 2021

Next Release:
July 28, 2021

May 2021

88.1°
$ billion

April 2021

85.7°
$ billion

Advance Monthly Wholesale Inventories icon

Advance Monthly Wholesale Inventories

May end-of-month inventories were $707.5 billion, up 1.1 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month.

Released:
June 24, 2021

Next Release:
July 28, 2021

May 2021

+1.1
% change in Inventories

April 2021 (r)

+1.0
% change in Inventories

Advance Monthly Retail Inventories icon

Advance Monthly Retail Inventories

May 2021 end-of-month inventories were $598.3 billion, down 0.8 percent (+/- 0.2%) from last month.

Released:
June 24, 2021

Next Release:
July 28, 2021

May 2021

-0.8
% change in Inventories

April 2021 (r)

-1.6
% change in Inventories

New Residential Sales icon

New Residential Sales

Sales of new single-family houses in May 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 769,000. This is 5.9 percent (+/- 18.6%)* below the revised April 2021 estimate of 817,000.

Released:
June 23, 2021

Next Release:
July 26, 2021

May 2021

-5.9*
% change

April 2021 (r)

-7.8*
% 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

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

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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