Live ยท Manufacturing pulse

The U.S. manufacturing pulse.

A live state-of-the-industry dashboard for U.S. manufacturing: input costs (electricity, gas, diesel, steel, aluminum, copper), demand signals (capacity

Input costs right now

  • Industrial electricity: 8.66 cents per kWh, U.S. average (EIA, Apr 2026).
  • Industrial natural gas: 4.9 per Mcf (EIA, Apr 2026).
  • On-highway diesel: $4.67 per gallon (EIA, week of 2026-06-29).
  • WTI crude: $71.87 per barrel (EIA, 2026-06-29).
  • Steel mill products PPI: 348.53, up 6.7% year over year (BLS, May 2026).
  • Aluminum mill shapes PPI: 404.859, up 36.8% year over year (BLS, May 2026).
  • Copper and brass PPI: 559.593, up 76.8% year over year (BLS, May 2026).
  • Plastic resins PPI: 319.371, up 19.5% year over year (BLS, May 2026).

Demand and factory activity

  • U.S. manufacturing runs at 75.6% of capacity (Federal Reserve, May 2026).
  • Industrial production index: 98.6353, up 1.4% year over year (Federal Reserve, May 2026).
  • New factory orders: $657B per month, up 2.3% year over year (Census, May 2026).
  • Truck tonnage index: 117.7, up 3.4% year over year (ATA via FRED, Apr 2026).
  • Housing starts: 1,177k annual rate, down 8.7% year over year (Census, May 2026).
  • Light vehicle sales: 16.5 million annual rate, up 2.9% year over year (BEA, May 2026).
  • Manufacturing job openings: 529k nationally (BLS JOLTS, May 2026).
  • Manufacturing hourly earnings: $30.27 (BLS, Jun 2026).

The cost of money and sourcing

  • Prime lending rate: 6.75% (Federal Reserve, 2026-06-29).
  • Effective fed funds rate: 3.63% (Federal Reserve, 2026-07-01).
  • 10-year Treasury yield: 4.48% (Federal Reserve, 2026-07-01).
  • Chinese yuan: 6.798 per USD (Federal Reserve H.10, 2026-06-26).
  • Mexican peso: 17.446 per USD (Federal Reserve H.10, 2026-06-26).
  • Euro: 1.1403 per USD (Federal Reserve H.10, 2026-06-26).

Trade flows this month

  • Iron and steel: $2.1B imported, $1.5B exported, a $0.6B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Aluminum: $2.6B imported, $1.5B exported, a $1.2B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Copper: $2.1B imported, $1.3B exported, a $0.9B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Machinery and mechanical appliances: $75.4B imported, $30.3B exported, a $45.2B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Electrical machinery and equipment: $49.4B imported, $21.5B exported, a $27.9B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Vehicles: $28.1B imported, $11.4B exported, a $16.7B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Plastics: $5.7B imported, $7.1B exported, a $1.4B trade surplus (Census, Apr 2026).
  • Rubber: $2.9B imported, $1.2B exported, a $1.7B trade deficit (Census, Apr 2026).

Sources and update cadence

  • Every number comes directly from the EIA, BLS, Census Bureau, Federal Reserve, or IMF and is republished only when a value actually changes.
  • Each metric with history has its own archived series page, and the matching calculators preload these benchmarks next to their inputs.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.