Details from the December 2016 US industrial production data report 18 January 2017
– Manufacturing production 0.2% vs 0.4% exp m/m. Prior -0.1%
– Capacity utilisation 75.5% vs 75.4% exp. Prior 75.0%. Revised to 74.9%
It looks even better when you factor in the worse revision. Again, the better number is no real surprise as we saw a raft of better manufacturing data from the PMI’s for Dec. We get a bit more detail from this though and the jump in consumer goods and business equipment is a potentially good signal for the economy, if it’s met with the appropriate consumer demand.