MSCI Metals Activity Reports Shows Stronger Service Center Shipments

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 Metals Activity Report (MAR) for May 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 rose 5.6 percent from May 2025 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while aluminum shipments increased 4.9 percent. In Canada, steel shipments increased 22.1 percent and aluminum shipments increased 27.3 percent from the same month in 2025. The results reflect positive shipment comparisons across all reported product categories and regions for the month.
• The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, up from 0.5 percent in the last quarter of 2025. The growth rate was revised up by 0.5 percentage points from a previous estimate, largely due to a downward revision to imports, which are a drag on gross domestic product, that was partly offset by a downward revision to consumer spending. Read the full report at this link. Inflation continues to plague the U.S. economy. The federal government also announced that the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s favored gauge of inflation, jumped 0.7 percent from April 2026 to May 2026 and 4.1 percent from May 2025 to May 2026.
• The Canadian economy expanded 0.5 percent in April. Goods-producing industries improved 1.2 percent due to impressive gains in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sectors. Fourteen of 20 industrial sectors expanded in April, including the manufacturing sector, which grew by 0.6 percent.
• U.S. Industrial production rose 0.1 percent in May. Manufacturing output was unchanged last month while the index for mining rose 1.3 percent, and the reading for utilities fell 0.4 percent. At 102.6 percent of its historical average, total industrial production in May was 1.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization rose to 76.2 percent, a rate that is 3.2 percentage points below its long-run average.
• New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell 1.3 percent in May to $657.4 billion while shipments increased 1.6 percent to $653.2 billion. Unfilled orders rose 0.6 percent to nearly $1.58 trillion while the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.91, down from 6.95 in April. Inventories improved 0.2 percent to $962 billion and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.47, down from 1.49 in April.
• U.S. manufacturing sales increased 1.2 percent from March 2026 to April 2026 and 8.7 percent between April 2025 and April 2026. Inventories rose 0.5 percent for the month and 2.7 percent year-over-year. The business inventories-to-sales ratio 1.31 in April, down from 1.38 the year before.
• According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales rose 4.2 percent in April due to surges in sales of petroleum and coal products. Petroleum and coal product sales jumped 22.6 percent to $11.8 billion due to higher volumes at several refineries that increased production after maintenance shutdowns.
• Canadian wholesale sales rose 0.6 percent from March 2026 to April 2026. Sales increased in five of the seven subsectors. The largest increases came from the building material and supplies subsector (up 4.3 percent) and the mineral, ore, and precious metal industry group (up 15.7 percent). Wholesale sales increased 6.3 from April 2025 to April 2026.
• The Institute for Supply Management purchasing managers’ index for the United States fell 0.7 percentage points to 53.3 percent in June. New orders and employment readings improved, but the reading for production was down. The S&P Global Canada manufacturing PMI edged upward to 53.0 in June, from 52.9 in May, but the reading marked the third straight month above the 50 threshold that signals expansion. Readings for output and new orders both improved.
• U.S. regional manufacturing readings were mixed last month. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed moderate growth in June. The composite index fell 14 points, but remained positive at +5.7. New orders dipped slightly to +3.5, while shipments improved modestly to +8.6. The employment and workweek indexes indicated a fifth straight month of gains. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s index showed stronger growth for the sector in its region this month. More specifically, the bank’s business activity index rose 10.7 points to +10.3. New orders, shipments, and employment readings all rose while future activity indicators continued to point to likely growth over the next six months. Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region was flat, meanwhile. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s composite manufacturing index fell to +4 in June from +13 in May. All three of its component indexes fell in June, though both shipments and new orders remained in positive territory. Read the full report at this link. Finally, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s composite index rose to +11 in June, up from +8 in May. All subindexes, including production and new orders, were in positive territory, except for the inventory indexes. Growth in the durable manufacturing sector was driven primarily by transportation equipment manufacturing. Read the full report at this link. Finally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported Texas manufacturing output growth decelerated in June. The production index fell five points to +4.1, which suggests below-average output expansion, while readings for capacity utilization, shipments, and new orders also fell. Read the full report at this link.
• During the week that ended June 20, 215,000 U.S. residents filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time, a number that down up by 12,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of first-time claims was 224,250, an increase of 750 from the previous week. The number of people who continued to receive jobless benefits rose to 1.821 million for the week that ended June 13, 2026. That number was up by 21,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims, meanwhile, rose to 1,794,500, an increase of 9,000 from the week before.
• In other economic news: total U.S. construction spending increased 0.1 percent from April 2026 to May 2026, but fell 1.5 percent from May 2025 to May 2026; the number of new homes under construction in the United States fell 15.4 from April to May and 8.7 percent year-over-year; U.S. import pricesincreased 1.9 percent in May while export prices were up 1.3 percent; Canadian retail sales expanded 0.5 percent in April; Canada’s consumer price index rose one percent from April to May and 3.2 percent year-over-year; the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index jumped from 44.8 in May to 49.5 in June; and the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose 0.6 points to 91.2 in May.