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Economy in Brief
U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Dips in May After Seven Straight Monthly Rises
The value of construction put-in-place ticked down 0.1% m/m (+9.7% y/y) in May...
Developed Economies Manufacturing Sectors Hit Hard in June
Among the 18 countries in the table that report manufacturing PMI data in June, only four show m/m improvements...
U.S. Income Gained, Spending Slowed in May
Personal income growth remained solid while household spending slowed in May...
U.S. Chicago Business Barometer Falls Back in June to the Lowest Level since Aug. '20
The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell to 56.0...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Edged Down
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended June 25 declined by 2,000 to 231,000...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller May 16, 2018
The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased 0.7% (3.5% y/y) during April following a 0.7% March rise, revised from 0.5%. A 0.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Factory sector production improved 0.5% (1.9% y/y) after holding steady in March, revised from 0.1%. Utility output strengthened 1.9% (6.0% y/y) after a 6.1% rise. Mining production improved 1.1% (10.6% y/y) following a 0.8% increase.
Strength in factory sector output reflected a 1.2% increase (1.3% y/y) in the production of business equipment which followed a 0.1% uptick. Industrial & other equipment production improved 1.8% (0.5% y/y) after a 0.9% decline. Production of information processing & related equipment strengthened 1.5% (4.3% y/y) after a 0.6% rise. Transit equipment production eased 0.2% (5.5% y/y) following a 0.4% increase.
Total consumer goods production increased 0.9% (3.4% y/y), about as it did in March. Nondurable consumer goods production increased 1.4% (3.8% y/y) following a 1.1% rise. Energy product output strengthened 3.2% (6.5% y/y) after a 6.5% increase. Apparel production rebounded 1.4% (1.2% y/y) after a 0.3% decrease. Paper product output rose 1.2% (-3.8% y/y) after a 0.9% increase. Chemical product production rose 1.0% (5.2% y/y) after a 0.2% rise. Working the other way, durable consumer goods production declined 0.6% (+2.3% y/y) after a 0.9% increase. Automotive product output declined 1.1% (+3.3% y/y) following two months of strong increase. Computer, video & related production fell 0.9% (+4.5% y/y) after a 1.5% fall. Appliance, furniture & carpeting production gained 0.7% (-1.5% y/y) following a 2.7% weakening.
Construction supplies output improved 0.3% (3.4% y/y) after a 1.0% decline.
Production of materials improved 0.5% (2.5% y/y) after a 0.9% increase. Energy product materials output increased 0.9% (9.9% y/y) after a 1.9% increase. Durable goods materials output rose 0.3% (1.9% y/y) following a 0.1% dip and nondurable goods materials rose 0.2% (0.6% y/y) following a 0.8% gain.
In the special aggregate groupings, production in selected high-technology industries rose 0.7% (6.1% y/y) following a 0.5% gain. Nonenergy production excluding high-tech gained 0.5% (1.5% y/y) following a 0.1% slip. Factory sector production excluding both high-tech and autos improved 0.6% (1.6% y/y) after a 0.2% slip.
Capacity utilization increased to 78.0%, the highest level since March 2015. Factory sector capacity utilization rose to 75.5%. Manuacturing sector capacity increased 0.9% y/y.
Industrial production and capacity data are included in Haver's USECON database, with additional detail in the IP database. The expectations figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
Industrial Production (SA, % Change) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Output | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 1.6 | -2.0 | -1.0 |
Manufacturing | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 1.2 | -0.8 | 0.1 |
Consumer Goods | 0.9 | 1.0 | -0.3 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
Business Equipment | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 | -5.3 | -2.0 |
Construction Supplies | 0.3 | -1.0 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
Materials | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 2.0 | -3.0 | -1.5 |
Utilities | 1.9 | 6.1 | -9.6 | 6.0 | -1.3 | -0.4 | -0.8 |
Mining | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 10.6 | 6.4 | -9.7 | -3.4 |
Capacity Utilization (%) | 78.0 | 77.6 | 77.1 | 76.2 | 78.1 | 75.4 | 77.3 |
Manufacturing | 75.8 | 75.5 | 75.6 | 75.1 | 74.8 | 74.6 | 75.8 |