The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said the goods and services deficit was $89.7 billion in January, up $7.7 billion from $82.0 billion in December, revised. January exports were $224.4 billion, $3.9 billion less than December exports; January imports were $314.1 billion, $3.8 billion more than December imports, according to […]
Category: Research & Analytics
Podcast Guests Reinforce 2022 Outlook, Importance of Tech and Analytics
Distributors entered 2022 amidst a bullish and relatively rosy outlook. Having weathered many of the economic and supply chain crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, most signs point to opportunities for companies to recover and thrive in the new year. (Fourth-quarter financial results from 2021 suggest that recovering and thriving is already well underway.) […]
February FDI Recovers ‘Nicely’
The February Fastener Distributor Index “recovered nicely,” rebounding to 56.0 following a seasonal-adjustment-driven downtick in January (52.7), according to the latest analysis from Baird, FCH Sourcing Network and the Institute for Supply Management. The recovery was “broadly consistent” with recovery seen in the ISM PMI and other macroeconomic data points as COVID-related disruption eased, according […]
Job Creation Soars as Key Construction and Manufacturing Indicators Rise
The U.S. economy created 678,000 jobs in February, beating economists’ expectations for a second straight month as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%. Job growth happened across a variety of sectors, including construction. “Construction added 60,000 jobs in February, following little change in the prior month,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. “About three-fourths […]
2022 Forecast Remains Strong Despite Inflation
The MDM Monthly Wholesale Forecast was little changed in January as the overall economic outlook for the wholesale distribution industry remains strong for 2022. These mostly positive indicators are happening partially because of inflation rates at 40-year highs. “Last month we were at 9.9% for the 2022 overall forecast, and now we’re at 10.9%,” says […]
Real GDP Increased 7% in 4Q
Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 7% in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.3%. The GDP estimate released Thursday is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” […]
January Materials Prices Jump 20%
Prices of construction materials rose more than 20% from January 2021 to January 2022, according to an Associated General Contractors of America analysis of government data. “Unfortunately, there has been no letup early this year in the extreme cost runup that contractors endured in 2021,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “They are apparently […]
4 Ways to Strengthen Sales Analytics
When it comes to sales processes and market planning, distributors are seeing many crosscurrents and riptides across different sectors. Leveraging analytics can improve distributors’ market planning ability and give them opportunities to move actionable data to their front lines. (MDM’s analytics experts Bob Jordan and Donnie Williamson pointed this out during a recent webcast.) With […]
New Residential Construction Up in January
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,899,000, 0.75 above the revised December rate of 1,885,000 and 0.8% above the January 2021 rate of 1,883,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Single‐family authorizations in January were at a rate of 1,205,000, 6.8% above the revised […]
Trade Sales and Manufacturers’ Shipments Drop in December
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for December 2021 — adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes — was estimated at $1,717.2 billion, down 0.7% from November, but was up 15.9% from December 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for December […]
Advance Retail, Food Services Sales Rise in January
The U.S. Census Bureau said advance estimates of retail and food services sales for January — adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes — were $649.8 billion, an increase of 3.8% from the previous month and 13% above January 2021. Total sales for the November 2021 through January […]
Wholesale Inflation Up 9.7% in January
January wholesale inflation was 9.7% higher than the same period a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s producer price index. The PPI, a metric that measures inflation before it reaches consumers, rose 1% in January compared to the previous month. The January increase follows jumps of 0.4% in December 2021 and 0.9% […]
The Power of Analytics for Distributors
Analytics is one of the core areas of best-practice distribution management that MDM has championed for decades (and have supported industrial products marketers through our MDM Analytics offerings). If you’re looking to create a more data-informed organization — and who isn’t today? — then I’m excited to share my conversation with Tony Pericle, CEO and […]
Wholesale Trade’s Record Year: Sales Increase 22% to $7.1 Trillion
Wholesale trade experienced more than $7.1 trillion in sales in 2021, a greater than 22% increase over 2020 when the industry recorded just over $5.8 trillion in revenues, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. It was a record year for the industry, also besting the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, which saw roughly $6.1 trillion […]
Wholesale Trade Has Record Year: $7.1 Trillion in Sales, 22% Above 2020
Wholesale trade experienced more than $7.1 trillion in sales in 2021, a greater than 22% increase over 2020 when the industry recorded just over $5.8 trillion in revenues, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. It was a record year for the industry, also besting the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, which saw roughly $6.1 trillion […]
BLS: Inflation Reaches 40-Year High
U.S. inflation jumped 7.5% over the past year, the highest rate of increase in four decades, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.6% in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, BLS said Thursday. Increases in the indexes for food, electricity and shelter were the largest […]
NAHB: Soaring Costs Lower Housing Affordability
Rising construction costs have dropped housing affordability to its lowest level in a decade, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released this week. Just over 54% of new and existing homes sold between October and December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $79,900, NAHB said. […]
FDI ‘Slightly Softer’ in January
The seasonally adjusted Fastener Distributor Index for January was “slightly softer” at 52.7, but modest underlying improvement was seen in most metrics, according to the latest analysis from Baird, FCH Sourcing Network and the Institute for Supply Management. The seasonal adjustment factor downwardly impacted results as January is “normally the strongest month of the year […]
Goods and Services Deficit Rises in December
The goods and services deficit was $80.7 billion in December, up $1.4 billion from $79.3 billion in November, revised, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. December exports were $228.1 billion, $3.4 billion more than November exports. December imports were $308.9 billion, $4.8 billion more than November imports. The […]
Job Market Surges in January
The U.S. economy created 467,000 jobs in January, according to new Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, beating economists’ expectations. Employers added 647,000 jobs in November, topping the 249,000 the Labor Department had estimated; employers also added 510,000 jobs in December, ahead of the 199,000 initially forecast. This means heading into 2022, more than 700,000 jobs […]
