July 17, 2007

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods decreased 0.2 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This decline followed advances of 0.9 percent in May and 0.7 percent in April. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 0.5 percent in June after increasing 1.1 percent in the prior month, and the crude goods index moved up 0.3 percent following a 2.0-percent advance in May.
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Among prices for finished goods, the index for energy goods fell 1.1 percent in June after rising 4.1 percent in May. Prices for consumer foods decreased 0.8 percent following a 0.2-percent decline in the previous month. By contrast, slightly counteracting the downturn in finished goods …

Industrial production rose 0.5 percent in June after a decrease of 0.1 percent in May. At 113.4 percent of its 2002 average in June, total industrial production was 1.4 percent above its year-earlier level.

Manufacturing output moved up 0.6 percent in June; excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory output increased 0.4 percent after having been unchanged in May. In June, the output indexes for mining and utilities registered gains of 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

For the second quarter as a whole, total industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 2.9 percent after an increase of 1.1 percent in the first quarter.

Capacity utilization for total industry moved up to 81.7 percent in June; the rate was 0.6 percentage point below its …

After a slight decrease in April, manufacturing shipments in Canada remained virtually unchanged in May (-0.1%) at&nbsp ; $49.7&nbsp ; billion. Manufacturing shipments had trended slowly downwards throughout most of&nbsp ; 2006, before posting a strong first quarter in&nbsp ; 2007.

Manufacturers continued to face several challenges during May. The Canadian dollar appreciated significantly against its American counterpart, reaching a 30-year high by the end of May. In addition, the Labour Force Survey reported a&nbsp ; 0.6% drop in manufacturing employment during the month, a loss of&nbsp ; 12,300&nbsp ; jobs.

Despite these challenges, the volume of manufacturing shipments, using constant dollars, rose&nbsp ; 0.4% to&nbsp ; $45.5&nbsp ; billion. After increasing in seven …