Well, it looks like the three-month growth trend has come to an end—June shipments came in at $7.22 billion, down from May’s $7.42 billion. This is the only June in the past five years that saw shipments drop from the previous month—even in 2020 they rose! But then we did have an unusually positive April, so perhaps we are in the midst of seeing a new seasonality emerge—or perhaps even the end of any kind of regular shipments pattern. Let’s hope that’s the case, as July is usually the worst month of the year.
January to June shipments are at $43.49 billion, still a bit short of 2023’s $44.69 billion.
