Industrial Production Falls Again

This morning, the Federal Reserve reported that Industrial Production fell again last month. Thanks to revisions, we can’t say that IP is down six months in a row. In the last six months, IP has dropped four times and risen very, very slightly twice.

U.S. industrial production declined in May, a sign weak global demand and a strong U.S. dollar continue to hold back output.

Industrial production, which measures the output of U.S. manufacturers, utilities and mines, decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Monday.

Capacity utilization, a measure of slack in the industrial sector, fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 78.1% in May. With the decline, capacity utilization is two percentage points below its long-run average recorded since 1972.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.2% increase in industrial production and a capacity utilization rate of 78.3%.

Posted by on June 15th, 2015 at 10:08 am


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