US industrial production and capacity utilization for May 2021
- prior month
- industrial production 0.8% versus 0.7% estimate Prior month revised to 0.1% from 0.7%.
- capacity utilization 75.2% versus 75.1% estimate. Prior month revised to 74.6% vs 74.9%.
- manufacturing production 0.9% vs 0.8% estimate. prior month revised to -0.1% vs +0.4%
- For the full report from the Federal Reserve CLICK HERE
Total industrial production increased 0.8 percent in May. Manufacturing production advanced 0.9 percent, reflecting, in part, a large gain in motor vehicle assemblies; factory output excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.5 percent. The indexes for mining and utilities rose 1.2 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.
Most market groups posted gains in May.
- The indexes for consumer goods, business equipment, business supplies, and materials all moved up around 1 percent.
- Within consumer goods, the index for durables advanced nearly 3 percent, mostly resulting from a jump of 5.7 percent in the output of automotive products.
- The increase in business equipment primarily reflected strength in transit equipment and in information processing equipment.
- The gain in materials was fairly widespread, with nondurables posting a slightly larger advance than either durables or energy.
- Construction supplies and defense and space equipment each recorded losses.
Manufacturing output advanced 0.9 percent in May.
- The index for durable manufacturing stepped up 1.0 percent, with the bulk of the increase resulting from a gain of 6.7 percent for motor vehicles and parts.
- Overall vehicle assemblies jumped about 1 million units to 9.9 million units (annual rate); even so, they remained more than 1 million units below their average level in the second half of 2020, as production continued to be hampered by shortages of semiconductors.
- The index for nondurables rose 0.8 percent; nearly all of its components posted gains.
- Advances of more than 2 percent were recorded by apparel and leather, by printing and support, and by chemicals. The improvement in chemicals chiefly reflected the reopening of some additional petrochemical plants that had been out of commission due to damage from the frigid conditions in February.
- The output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) increased 0.8 percent.
Although the numbers were better than expected, the revisions were a bit of a disappointment.
