August has brought some more good news to the U.S. economy in general and distribution in general based on the latest round of data reports showing continued momentum, but the industry has plenty of work yet to complete.
Latest In Economic Trends
IRCG's weekly comparison of distribution business to previous year's data reflects 'unnerving sense of stability.'
MDM’s new report, Markets Forecast, offers quarterly revenue projections for the wholesale distribution industry, plus breakouts for select categories, for the current calendar quarter and the next fiscal year. The inaugural Forecast looks at post-pandemic projections for distributors as a whole, plus specific sectors.
All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made positive contributions in May, and all four categories increased from April.
Latest report shows U.S. cutting tool consumption down 24.7% from previous month of March.
In many cases, distributor sales people report that they cant remember the last time they have reviewed their pricing with their leaders. MDMs John Gunderson shares five steps pricing teams take to maintain margins.
Housing starts also down compared to year-ago period but up compared to April, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
PRI dips 8.5% for the week of June 8-12, indicating distributors are still struggling during pandemic.
According to the Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Report, total industrial production grew 1.4% during the month.
Recent economic reports show upward momentum for the overall U.S. economy and the wholesale distribution industry in particular, but not all data points paint a rosy picture, indicating recovery will be a slog.
Distributor expects negative impact from COVID-19 to be reflected in second quarter results.
The April figure is 3.0% above the April 2019 estimate of $1,307.1 billion.
The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter reflected negative contributions from PCE, private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment and exports that were partly offset by positive contributions from residential fixed investment, federal government spending and state and local government spending.
All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made negative contributions in April.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in March, down following three consecutive monthly increases, decreased $36.6 billion or 14.7% to $212.6 billion, down from the previously published 14.4% decrease.
The unemployment rate rose to 14.7%, the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the series.
All but one participant in the Pandemic Revenue Index realized a sales decline year over year, with a maximum decline of 43%. We now have six weeks of double-digit average declines.
Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit decreased $28.1 billion, or 17.8%, from the same period in 2019.
The New Orders Index registered 27.1%, a decrease of 15.1% from the March reading.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, real GDP increased 2.1%.
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