Industrial Production Continues to Rise

On Friday, the government reported that industrial production rose by 0.8% in April. Industrial production has climbed sharply off its low but it still has a long way to go to surpass its September 2007 high.

Industrial production increased more than forecast in March, led by a rebound in consumer goods manufacturing, a sign that factories will keep driving the U.S. economy.

Output rose 0.8 percent, the fifth straight gain, after a revised 0.1 percent rise in February, the Federal Reserve said today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a 0.6 percent gain, according to the median estimate. Manufacturing, which makes up 75 percent of the total, climbed 0.7 percent following a 0.6 percent increase. Utility output and mining also rose.

Factories in the U.S. are benefiting from gains in business investment, expanding economies overseas and inventory rebuilding. The pace of production may cool temporarily as some factories scramble to replace supplies of parts interrupted after last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

“The economy is really starting to take shape,” said Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York. While “we expect a cool down” in the next couple of months because of events in Japan, that will be “a short-lived phenomenon,” he said. “We’ve seen global manufacturing increase since the crisis.”

Posted by on April 18th, 2011 at 12:05 pm


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