MSCI Metals Activity Reports Shows Increased Shipments Across North America

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:

• MSCI’s MAR for April 2026 showed year-over-year increases in service center shipments across both steel and aluminum in the United States and Canada. U.S. steel shipments increased 2.6 percent from April 2025 to April 2026 while aluminum U.S. shipments jumped 6.7 percent during that time period. In Canada, steel shipments were up 11.3 percent compared to April 2025 while aluminum shipments increased 32.2 percent year-over-year.
• The U.S. government announced the country’s economy expand at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026, down from a previous first estimate for the quarter that showed a two percent expansion. (The reading was up from the 0.5 percent growth seen in the last quarter of 2025, however.) The value of imports were a drag on the reading. Read the full report at this link.
• The Canadian economy unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter of 2026 due to slowdowns in business and government spending and higher imports. Specifically, Statistics Canada reported the nation’s economy contracted 0.1 percent on an annualized basis in the first quarter of 2026. That decline followed a one percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2025, which means Canada’s economy is now technically in recession.
• The U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May while upward revisions from previous two months raised employment by an additional 93,000 jobs. With those revisions, the U.S. economy added an average of 188,000 jobs over the past three months. The unemployment rate also held steady at 4.3 percent for the third straight month. In related news, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026 as output jumped one percent and hours worked increased 0.7 percent.
• The Canadian economy added 88,000 jobs in May while the country’s unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 6.6 percent. Employment increased in several industries, with the construction, information/culture/recreation, transportation and warehousing, and accommodation and food services industries enjoying the largest increases. The wholesale and retail trade shed jobs, meanwhile.
• New orders for U.S. manufactured goods jumped 4.8 percent in April to $662.7 billion while shipments increased one percent to $641 billion. Unfilled orders were up 1.7 percent to $1.569 trillion while the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.95, up from 6.88 in March. Inventories rose 0.3 percent to $959.1 billion and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.50, down from 1.51 in March. Read the full report at this link.
• The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 54.0 in May, up from 52.7 in April, to hit its highest reading since May 2022. The new orders sub-index improved from 54.1 to 56.8 while production also increased, moving from 53.4 to 54.3. Read the full report at this link.
• As Reuters reported, the S&P Global Canada manufacturing PMI fell to 52.9 in May from 53.3 in April. Still, for the second successive month the reading was above the 50-mark that separates expansion and contraction. The new orders reading ​fell to 53.9 from 55.0 in April, while the measure of employment rose ‌to ⁠1, rising to its highest level since October 2024.
• U.S. personal incomes declined by less than 0.1 percent between March 2026 and April 2026 while the country’s personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — rose 0.4 percent for the month and 3.8 percent between April 2025 and April 2026.
• According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas manufacturing output growth decelerated in May despite the fact that the bank’s general business activity index edged up three points to +0.4. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell 10 points to +9.4, meanwhile, a reading that suggests an average pace of output expansion. Other measures of manufacturing activity also showed signs of slower growth. The capacity utilization index fell 15 points to +5.2, for example, while the new orders index declined four points to +6.4 and the shipments index fell eight points to +7.4. In the central Atlantic region, the picture was a little brighter last month. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s composite index increased to +13 in May from +3 in April. All three of the bank’s component readings also rose: shipments to +16 from -2, new orders to +17 from +8, and employment to +3 from zero. Read the full report at this link.
• During the week that ended May 30, 225,000 U.S. residents filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time, a number that was up by 13,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of first-time claims was 214,750, up 6,500 from the previous week. The number of people who continued to receive jobless benefits fell to 1.777 million for the week that ended May 23, 2026, declining 8,000 from the prior week. The four-week moving average of continuing claims, meanwhile, fell to 1,777,250, an increase of 4,750 from the week before. In other employment-related news, the number of job openings in the United States soared to their highest level in two years, surging by 731,000 to 7.6 million in April of this year. It was the biggest monthly gain in five years for this reading. White-collar job postings accounted for most of the surge. Read the full report at this link.
• In other economic news: U.S. construction spending increased 0.4 percent from March 2026 to April 2026 and 0.9 percent from April 2025 to April 2026; the number of new home sales in the United States plunged earlier this year, dropping 6.2 percent from March to April and 11.3 percent year-over-year; and the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence fell 0.7 points to 93.1 n May.