Industrial production (IP) edged down 0.1 percent in July. Manufacturing output was unchanged after increasing 0.3 percent in June. In July, the index for mining declined 0.4 percent, and the index for utilities decreased 0.2 percent. At 104.0 percent of its 2017 average, total IP in July was 1.4 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved down to 77.5 percent in July, a rate that is 2.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2024) average.
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Click on graph for larger image.
This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is up from the record low set in April 2020, and close to the level in February 2020 (pre-pandemic).
Capacity utilization at 77.5% is 2.1% below the average from 1972 to 2023. This was slightly below consensus expectations.
Note: y-axis doesn’t start at zero to better show the change.
The second graph shows industrial production since 1967.
Industrial production decreased to 104.0. This is above the pre-pandemic level.
Industrial production was slightly above consensus expectations.