NFPA’s Econ and Market Indicators (EMI) report has been updated for April. The EMI report pulls together data from multiple sources to provide the latest trends for:
- Customer Markets (U.S. Census Bureau)
- Economic Indicators (U.S. Census Bureau)
- Industrial Production (Federal Reserve)
- Capacity Utilization (Federal Reserve)
- Producer Price Index (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Highlights from the updated report include the following:
- Construction
- As shown in the EMI report, total construction spending: manufacturing in the United States’ 3/12 and 12/12 rates of change have decreased since December 2023 and spending continues to grow less and less. Additionally, Construction Manufacturing equipment shipments have been slowing down throughout 2023 and 2024, with the latest m/m increase being 0.6% this May.
- In ITR’s most recent report, forecasts US Construction Machinery Production to end the year at -13.1% for 2024. They also state that the sector is currently in a recessionary phase, as of April 2024.
- Pharmaceutical
- The updated EMI report shows that pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing shipments continue to trend upward with May shipments being up 4% m/m and 9.2% y/y. Chemical product manufacturing shipments are also trending positively but at a much shallower rate with a 2.2% m/m increase.
- Farm Machinery and Equipment
- The EMI report shows farm machinery and equipment industrial production has been trending downwards on a 12-month average. In May, its y/y rate comes in at -2.7% and 12/12 rate of change at -5.7%.
- In Oxford’s by country report on the United States, Oxford forecasts agricultural machinery to have an annual percent change of -0.6% at the end of 2024 and 3.3% in 2025.
- Petroleum Refineries
- Petroleum Refinery shipments, according to the EMI report, are down -4.0 m/m in May but up 4.5% y/y. Industrial production for petroleum refineries are up 5.1% m/m in May as well. Smoothed out using 12mma, the industrial production indexes are visually quite flat ever since April 2022. The 12mma only recently pulling above an averaged index of 90 in February 2024. In Oxford’s forecasted top 10 slowest growing sectors in the US, the energy and mining industry is overtly represented.
The EMI report can be accessed at this link: https://nfpahub.com/reports/econ-market-indicator/. An excel file with all the raw data is also available to download for internal analysis. Members can view individual series and apply different calculations such as moving averages and rates of change.
The ITR forecast referenced in this article can be found at this link: https://nfpahub.com/reports/nfpa-forecast-report-u-s-customer-markets/
The Oxford report referenced in this article can be found at this link: https://nfpahub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/usIISDB190624.pdf
Questions? Contact Cecilia Bart at cbart@nfpa.com or 414-259-2027.
Like this post? Share it!
Recent Posts
Meet a Robotics Challenge Scholarship Awardee – Ailey Smith
The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation has awarded 5 scholarships to students who applied to the Robotics Challenge Scholarship. A minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0, 1,000-word essay, letter of recommendation, and use of pneumatics in their FIRST or VEX competition robot were required from each applicant. The NFPA Foundation’s goal is to build awareness of…
Meet a Fluid Power Scholarship Winner & Tom Wanke Legacy Awardee – Emily Bolin
The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation has awarded 20 $2,000 scholarships to students pursuing fluid power related fields of study. One of the winners, Emily Bolin, is attending Grace College, and was selected for a Tom Wanke Legacy Fund Award. We asked Emily a few questions about winning the scholarship. What does winning a Tom Wanke Legacy…
NAM Regulatory Update: Q&A: Biden Releases Regulatory “Wish List”
As part of an effort to bring more information about the regulatory and legal environment facing American manufacturers, NFPA is monitoring the newsfeed of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and will be bringing important updates like this to the attention of NFPA members. President Biden has released his regulatory “wish list” for a second…