US Industrial Production: Slump Continues – Wells Fargo

By FXStreet FXStreet (Córdoba) – According to economists from Wells Fargo, the slump continues in industrial production and today’s report showed a negative surprise with the decline in manufacturing output.

Key Quotes:

“You can blame warm weather for another drop in utilities, but mining output fell for a fourth straight month and manufacturing output edged lower.”

“What is more disappointing, in our view, is that manufacturing output declined. This component, which comprises roughly three quarters of all industrial production, has been a stalwart notching modest gains even as other measures have declined. That changed in today’s report. Not only did manufacturing slip 0.1 percent in December, last month’s slight increase was revised to a scant 0.1 percent decline. Small as these declines might be, on the razor’s edge between growth and contraction, even small declines take on additional significance.”

“All that said, we are not throwing in the towel yet. A lot of the recent weakness in manufacturing is concentrated in motor vehicle and parts production. After consecutive monthly declines, this category fell at a 7.9 percent annualized rate over the past three months. Stripping away this notoriously volatile category, manufacturing production was up in December and still growing at a 1.3 percent annualized …read more

Source:: FX Street