Drowned out by the roar of fireworks this past weekend, you may not have noticed, but on Friday the Institute for Supply Management released its latest monthly report on the state of the American economy:
So the good news is that we seem to have pulled out of May's nosedive. Even if growth remains less robust than we experienced in the early months of this year, we're still 25-for-25 on positive growth months. In a global economy as nervous as this one is, that's nothing to sneeze at.
The other good news is that -- perhaps in part thanks to last month's scare -- we're now finally seeing a break in the relentless growth of inflation in America. For the first time in a long time, the ISM did not include the dreaded words "no commodities are reported down in price" in its report. To the contrary, the economists named copper, nickel, stainless steel, and steel as four commodities experiencing some price downticks.
Foolish takeaway
If you're invested in a heavy user of such commodities -- Ford (NYSE: F) or General Motors (NYSE: GM), for example, use a lot of steel in their automobiles, and so long as stainless steel appliances remain in vogue, I'd think Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) will also see a decline in cost of goods -- this is good news. Likewise if you're a consumer in the market for a new car, fridge, or washer/dryer.
On the other hand, ISM's data seems to contradict the bullish note that Deutsche Bank sounded on steelmakers U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) and AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) last week. The analyst is predicting about a 27% rise in steel prices over the coming year. I'm not saying it won't happen, but judging from the data, it doesn't seem to be happening yet.
Or at least that's how I look at the data. Do you see things differently? Take the Foolish Rorschach test -- tell us your thoughts below.
