Data Show Continued Manufacturing Industry Struggles In United States, Canada

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but the Metals Service Center Institute 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 Macroeconomic Current.

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

• The headline index for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s manufacturing index was little changed in June at -9.2. New orders and shipments increased after declining in May while employment and the average workweek declined. Firms remained pessimistic about the outlook, with the future general business conditions index holding slightly below zero. Read the full report at this link.
• U.S. wholesale sales increased modestly in April, rising by 0.2 percent to reach $908.7 billion. Wholesale sales in April increased by 0.1 percent to $700.2 billion and were up six percent from a year earlier. The inventory-to-sales ratio for April stood at 1.30, a decrease from 1.34 in April 2024.
• According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales fell 2.8 percent from March to April 2025 to hit their lowest level since January 2022. It was the biggest monthly drop in manufacturing sales since October 2023. Declines in sales of petroleum and coal products (down 10.9 percent), motor vehicles (down 8.3 percent), and primary metals (down 4.4 percent) drove the decline. Read the full report at this link.
• The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits for the first time ever was 248,000 during the week that ended June. That number was unchanged from the week before. Averaged over the past four weeks, the number of first-time claims was 240,250, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week. In all, nearly 1.956 million people claimed federal unemployment benefits during the week that ended May 31. That figure was up by 54,000 from the week before and at its highest level since November 2021.
• In other economic news: the U.S. Producer Price Index increased 0.1 percent between April 2025 and May 2025 and 2.6 percent between May 2024 and May 2025; the U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent between April and May and 2.4 percent year-over-year; and real average hourly earnings for all U.S. employees increased 0.3 percent from April to May.