Rising demand for automobiles – relatively expensive durable goods – is an indication of increasing consumer confidence with their future financial prospects. With that in mind, the May auto-sales data should be comforting as it was the fastest rate since February 2007. The numbers came at 16.8 million SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate) units, better than…

The April US factory orders month-over-month came at +0.7% versus +0.6% estimated. The prior month’s reading was +1.1%, which was lower than the forecast of 1.5%. Overall this leading indicator of production is showing a slowing increase in the purchase orders – see chart below from ForexFactory.com.