The U.S. labor market continues to perform well. Continuous claims for unemployment insurance benefits remain close to historic lows. Seasonally adjusted (SA), claims stood at 1,949,000 on July 1^st, down 16,000 week on week.

The total number of operating rigs in the US the week ending July 28^th was 958, 766 oil and 192 gas. Month on month oil rigs were up 1.3% and gas rigs were up 4.3%, for an overall increase of 0.8%.

The three month moving average (3MMA), of the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), for July was 914 down 10.5%, 3MMA month on month (m/m), but up 41.5%, 3MMA year on year, (y/y). The BDI has corrected since peaking above 1,300 points in the spring rally.

The annualized Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growth rate in the first estimate of the second quarter (Q2), of 2017 was 2.57% according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

For the second quarter in a row lenders have relaxed standards for Commercial and Industrial loans to large and medium sized firms. Banks have however, tightened standards for Commercial Real Estate loans. Demand for these types of loans has reportedly waned.

Special Bar Quality licenses year to date (YTD), for July totaled 287,527 tons, up 9.1% from last year’s YTD 263,614 tons. July license requests were for 45,857 tons, down slightly from the April, May, June average of 48,211 tons.