The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured durable goods decreased 0.1% to $257.2 billion in July. The decrease follows two consecutive monthly increases. Transportation equipment decreased as well by 2.2% after two consecutive months of increases. Shipments of manufactured durable goods increased 2.2% in July. Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.3% to $1,225.4 billion. Inventories of manufactured durable goods increased 0.6% to $453.6 billion. Total durable-goods orders are up 2.4% from a year ago.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude oil stockpiles (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 3.0M barrels from the previous week to 432.6M barrels for the week ending August 20th. U.S. crude oil inventories are running about 6% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA reported the gasoline supply decreased by 2.2 M barrels last week and are running about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.6 M barrels last week and are running about 8% below the five-year average for this time of year. Crude oil refinery inputs average 16.1 million barrels per day, an increase of 66,000 barrels per day as compared to the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 92.4% of their operable capacity, as gasoline production increased to an average of 10.2M barrels per day. Crude oil imports came in at 6.2M barrels per day, a decrease of 193,000 barrels per day as compared to the previous week. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 4.8M barrels last week.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ second estimate on second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth reported an economy expanding at an annual rate of 6.6%, up from 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Increases in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), nonresidential fixed investment, exports, and state and local government spending were partially offset by decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, and federal government spending. PCE was driven by an upswing in services specifically by food services and accommodations and nondurable goods, specifically pharmaceutical products, as well as clothing and footwear. The increase in nonresidential fixed investment was seen in equipment led by transportation equipment and intellectual property products, led by research and development as well as software. The decrease in private inventory investment was mainly due to a decrease in retail trade inventories.