U.S. January Industrial Production - Aircraft and utilities up, mining and autos slip, elsewhere not much change
January industrial production is up a stronger than expected 0.5% more than fully due to a 7.2% surge in utilities that looks like a response to cold weather. Manufacturing fell by 0.1% despite a positive contribution from aircraft as Boeing recovered from a strike, with weather likely a negative here.
The data was weak excluding the surge in utilities, which is sensitive to weather, with mining also falling, by 1.2%.
Gains in aircraft output added 0.2% to overall industrial production. Aircraft saw sharp declines in September and October, a near neutral November and sharp gains in December and January.
Autos were a negative, with manufacturing ex autos up by 0.2% despite the 0.1% decline in manufacturing overall, offsetting the boost from aircraft. The decline in autos looks erratic and may be weather-related.
While there seems to be a fairly flat picture here, survey evidence in manufacturing has been improving and without bad weather manufacturing output would probably have risen even ex aircraft.
