Recent Updates
- Japan: ** Japan's consumption activity index rebased from 2010=100 to 2011=100.**
- US: Existing Home Sales Detail (Mar)
- UAE: CPI (Mar), Dubai GDP (Q4); Lebanon: CPI (Mar); Israel: PMI (Mar), Quantity of New Dwellings Demanded (Feb); Palestine: Public Debt (Mar-Prelim); Saudi Arabia: Real Estate Price Index (Q1)
- Canada: Wholesale Trade (Feb)
- US: Chicago Fed National Activity Index (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Strengthen Selectively
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index increased 0.4% during the last four weeks...
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
by Tom Moeller May 17, 2005
Industrial production fell 0.2% in April following a downwardly revised 0.1% increase in March. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.2% gain. Lower utility output accounted for all of the decline as it fell 2.3% (0.7% y/y) for the third decline this year.
Factory sector output recovered 0.1% (3.5% y/y) of a downwardly revised 0.3% decline in March. Excluding the high tech sector where output rose 1.8% (20.3% y/y) factory output fell for the second month, down 0.1% (+2.5% y/y). During 2004 factory output less high tech rose 3.9%.
Production of electrical equipment, appliances & components rose 0.2% after a downwardly revised 1.0% March increase, but the y/y gain of 2.0% was well off the 6.2% pace of 2004. Machinery output also rose a firm 1.3% but here as well the y/y growth of 6.3% is about last year's increase.
Total capacity utilization slipped to 79.2% and capacity grew 1.2% y/y. Factory sector utilization also slipped to 77.9% and capacity rose 1.3% y/y.
| Production & Capacity | April | March | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial Production | -0.2% | 0.1% | 3.1% | 4.1% | -0.0% | -0.3% |
| Consumer Goods | -0.9% | -0.2% | 1.4% | 2.7% | 0.3% | 1.4% |
| Business Equipment | 0.8% | -0.1% | 8.4% | 9.5% | 1.2% | -7.9% |
| Capacity Utilization | 79.2% | 79.4% | 77.7% (04/04) | 78.1% | 75.5% | 75.3% |
