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The Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 14.8M barrels per day during the week ending April 16, 2021, a 286,000 barrels per day drop over the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 85.0% of their operable capacity. Gasoline production decreased, averaging 9.4M barrels per day. Total gasoline inventories are about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.9M barrels a day, up 61.5% year over year. Distillate fuel production decreased, averaging 4.6M barrels per day, while inventories are about 2% above the five-year average. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.9M barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 15.9% year over year. Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 19.7 million barrels a day, up by 30.7% from the same period last year. U.S. crude oil inventories are about 1% above the five-year average for this time of year.
The Department of Labor reported that for the week ending April 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 547,000, a decrease of 39,000 from the previous week's revised level. The 4-week moving average decreased to 651,000, a 27,750 drop from the previous week's revised average. The seasonally adjusted initial claims figures are at their lowest since March 14, 2020. The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid decreased 34,000 to 3.674M for the week ended April 10, this is the lowest level since March 21, 2020, when it was 3.094M. Claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides benefits for the self-employed who aren't eligible for regular state benefits, rose slightly to 133,319 without seasonal adjustments. Just under 700,000 people filed for benefits last week without seasonal adjustments.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® U.S. (LEI) which measures U.S. business cycles increased 1.3% in March to 111.6 (2016 = 100), following a 0.1% decrease in February, which was preceded by nine consecutive months of increases. The March measure is the highest since August 2020. All ten components of the LEI contributing positively. The LEI is based on initial jobless claims, manufacturers' new orders, building permits of new private housing units, stock prices, credit conditions, interest rate spread, and average consumer expectations. The composite economic indexes are designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle and are constructed to smooth out some of the volatility of individual components. The Conference Board now projects year-over-year growth that could reach 6.0% in 2021.
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