Retail sales, homebuilder sentiment, lumber, industrial production, steel

Retail sales jumped up with the Federal transfer payments and have more recently
started to decline as transfer payments subsided. And the remaining Federal unemployment comp
of $300/week expires Labor day for approximately 7 million beneficiaries:


More evidence of a housing decline, even with the lowest rates ever:


Lumber and housing often move together:


This number is seasonally adjusted, and was higher in July because auto plants typically shut down in July didn’t this year due to prior production issues:

Industrial production in the United States increased 0.9 percent in July 2021, following a downwardly revised 0.2 percent growth in June and beating market expectations of 0.5 percent. Manufacturing output rose 1.4 percent, mainly due to a jump of 11.2 percent for motor vehicles and parts, as a number of vehicle manufacturers trimmed or canceled their typical July shutdowns. Despite the large increase last month, vehicle assemblies continued to be constrained by a persistent shortage of semiconductors. The output of utilities decreased 2.1 percent in July, while the index for mining rose 1.2 percent. source: Federal Reserve


Steel and industrial production are also somewhat related: