Industrial Production Flat in May

We got a disappointing industrial production report for May. The report showed that IP was flat for May, and this comes after a 0.4% drop in April. Wall Street had been expecting an increase of 0.2%. Looking at the details, manufacturing did alright, but there was a drop-off for utilities.

Business investment has eased as the economy navigates the effects of this year’s across-the-board U.S. government budget cuts and higher taxes. At the same time, the auto industry remains a bright spot for manufacturing, which has been hindered by a recession in Europe and a slowdown in China.

“It’s partly the soft-global-growth story,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, said before the report. “You’re seeing strength in things like autos. Everything else seems to be a bit spotty, and some of that is just softer consumer demand in general.”

fredgraph06142013

Posted by on June 14th, 2013 at 9:54 am


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