Supply Manager's Commodity & Economic Index

A standing monthly reference for industrial buyers: the commodity prices, producer price indexes, lead-time readings, freight rates and exchange rates that actually move a purchase order, compiled from the agencies that publish them.

The index tracks 66 series. Steel mill products, iron and steel scrap, aluminum mill shapes, copper wire and cable, nonferrous scrap and machinery producer prices come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc, lead, tin and iron ore benchmarks come from the IMF. WTI crude, on-highway diesel and Henry Hub natural gas come from the EIA. Freight covers the Cass Freight Index and BLS producer price indexes for truckload, ocean and air transport. Lead-time and backlog readings come from the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing surveys and the New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index. Exchange rates for the Canadian dollar, euro, Mexican peso, Indian rupee, Chinese yuan, yen, pound and won are pulled live from the European Central Bank each time the page loads.