U.S. June Industrial Production - Manufacturing extends a strong May increase
June industrial production is stronger than expected with a 0.6% increase. While led by a 2.8% rise in utilities that was supported by hot weather, manufacturing is healthy with a rise of 0.4% which extends an upwardly revised 1.0% increase in May.
While there has been some improvement in some manufacturing surveys in recent months, notably the S and P manufacturing PMI, the recent improvement in manufacturing is stronger than most manufacturing surveys, notably the ISM’s, have been implying. Payroll aggregate hours worked have however shown some recent improvement.
Manufacturing was up by 0.3% ex autos after a 1.1% increase in May so autos are not a major contributor to the recent manufacturing improvement. The rise in utilities was the third straight following declines in February and March. Mining rose by a modest 0.3% after a 0.7% May decline.
