Factory orders rose 0.6% for May. Shipments rose 0.1%, and the ratio of unfilled orders-to-shipments increased somewhat from 5.27 in April to 5.32 in May. Orders for durable goods rose slightly and those for non-durable goods increased by 1.2%.

The Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ended June 27, 2008 decreased by 2.0 million barrels from the previous week. These inventories are now near the lower boundary of their average range for this time of year. Crude oil imports averaged about 10.2 million barrels per day. For the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged 10.1 million barrels per day, about 87,000 bbls/day higher than the average for the same period last year.