Production heading down, but manufacturing manins upbeat

Industrial Production Dives In February, After the Jump in January

Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2021 by
Skerdian Meta • 1 min read

Production heading down, but manufacturing manins upbeat

The industrial production turned negative at the end of 2020, but it jumped higher in January, increasing by . Although, expectations were for another negative reading in February and today’s report came as expected, showing a 2.2% decline in production last month.

US Feb industrial production

February industrial production -2.2% vs +0.3% expected
Prior +0.9% (revised to +1.1%)
Capacity utilization 73.8% vs 75.5%
Manufacturing output 13.1%
Mining production -5.4%
Production -4.2% than a year earlier

The report itself highlights the weather as the issue:

“The severe winter weather in the south central region of the country in mid-February accounted for the bulk of the declines in output for the month. Most notably, some petroleum refineries, petrochemical facilities, and plastic resin plants suffered damage from the deep freeze and were offline for the rest of the month. Excluding the effects of the winter weather would have resulted in an index for manufacturing that fell about 1/2 percent and in an index for mining that rose about 1/2 percent.”

Still, even if the number was -0.5%, that’s under the consensus and (no doubt) the consensus factored in some weather-related weakness.

However there’s a caveat here with auto output down 8.3% but that’s likely a reflection of a semi-conductor shortage because if you look at Feb auto sales, they continue to boom.

Check out our free forex signals

Follow the top economic events on FX Leaders economic calendar

Trade better, discover more Forex Trading Strategies