March 16, 2021

Retail Sales  (February 2021)

- Retail Sales month/month -3.0%. Previous was 7.6%

- Ex-Vehicles month/month -2.7%. Previous was 8.3%

- Ex-Vehicles & Gas month/month  -3.3%   Previous was 8.5%

Retail Sales is the largest component of 1stQ 2021 GDP.  This data is seasonally adjusted but not inflation adjusted.

Source:  Census  Details:https://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf

 

Import and Export Prices  (February 2021)

- Import Prices month/month     1.34%. Previous was +1.4%

- Import Prices year/year    3.0%. Previous was 1.0%

- Export Prices month/month   1.6%. Previous was 2.5%

- Export Prices year/year    +5.2%. Previous was +2.3%

Source: BLS  Details: https://www.bls.gov/mxp/

 

Redbook Chain Store Sales (week ended 3/13/2021)

- Chain Store Sales year/year 6.5%. Previous was 8.0%

- Chain Store Sales month/month -17.9%. Previous was -18.1%.

Source: Redbook Research Inc.

 

Industrial Production  (February 2021)

- Industrial Production month/month -2.2%.    Previous was +1.1%.

- Manufacturing Output month/month  -3.1% . Previous was  +1.2%

- Capacity Utilization Rate        73.8%. Previous was 75.5%

Source:  Federal Reserve  Details: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf

 

Business Inventories (January 2021)

- Inventories month/month  +0.3%. Previous was +0.8%.

This is a component of 1stQ 2021 GDP.

Source:  Census   Details: https://www.census.gov/mtis/www/data/pdf/mtis_current.pdf

 

Housing Market Index ( March 2021)

- Index  82.  Previous was   84

This is based on a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders.  The survey asks 1) how's business and 2) how do you think the economy in general is doing.