Daily Roundup of Key US Economic Data for May 21

02:42 PM EDT, 05/21/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Housing starts fell by 2.8% to a 1.465 million annual rate in April, with single-family housing starts lower but multi-family starts higher.

Building permits rose by 5.8% to a 1.442 million rate in April, lifted by an increase in multi-family permits that more than offset a decline in single-family permits. Homes permitted but not started decreased by 1.9%.

The number of homes under construction and completions both increased in the month, which should add to supply of homes for sale in the near term. Completions were still 2% lower than their year-ago level.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing reading fell to minus 0.4 in May from 26.7 in April, while the Kansas City manufacturing reading fell to 8 from 10. The flash manufacturing reading from S&P Global rose to 55.3 in May from 54.5 in April.

Released at the same time, the flash services reading from S&P Global fell to 50.9 in May from 51.0 in April.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 3,000 to 209,000 in the employment survey week ended May 16, trimming the four-week moving average by 1,500 to 202,500, the lowest since the week ended Oct. 1, 2022. Initial claims were at a level of 215,000 in the employment survey week ended April 18.

Insured claims rose by 6,000 to 1.782 million in the week ended May 9.

Natural gas stocks rose by 101 billion cubic feet to 2.391 trillion cubic feet in the week ended May 15, up 1.4% from a year earlier and 6.6% higher than the seasonal average for the current week over the previous five years.

The Q2 GDP nowcast estimate from the Atlanta Fed is for a 4.3% gain, revised up from the previous estimate of a 4.0% gain.

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