US Manufacturing Production Contracts For 7th Straight Month, Capacity Utilization Tumbles

After falling for 3 of the last 4 months, and following Germany’s disastrous January print, US Industrial Production was expected to drop by 0.2% but yet again it disappointed, falling 0.3% MoM.

Source: Bloomberg

This means US Industrial Production has contracted year-over-year for 5 straight months.

• Utilities fell 4% in Jan. after falling 6.2% in Dec. (warm weather-related?)

• Mining rose 1.2% in Jan. after rising 1.5% in Dec.

In the manufacturing segment, production slipped 0.1% MoM, matching expectations, but is down year-over-year for the seventh straight month…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, we note that Capacity Utilization slumped to 76.8% – the lowest since

Source: Bloomberg

And this is before the impact of the virus had fully hit global supply chains.