EmailIndustrial production increased 0.2% in June after declining a negatively revised 0.1% (from +0.1%) in May. The Briefing.com consensus expected industrial production to increase 0.2%.
The growth in production came from utilities (+0.9%) and mining (+0.5%) production.
In contrast to the gain in the ISM Manufacturing Report, manufacturing production was flat in June after increasing a downwardly revised 0.1% (from 0.4%) in May.
The lack of growth in manufacturing was courtesy of the motor vehicle industry.
Motor vehicle assemblies fell from 7.93 million SAAR in May to 7.81 mln SAAR in June. Auto assemblies declined from 2.83 million SAAR in May to 2.80 mln SAAR in June while truck assemblies fell from 5.10 million SAAR to 5.00 million SAAR during the same time period. The fall in assemblies goes against the reported spike in the Chicago PMI report. This report is normally heavily influenced by the auto sector and it suggested motor vehicle manufacturing was returning to more normal levels after production slowed following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Outside of the motor vehicle sector, manufacturing expanded 0.3% in June after declining 0.1% in May.
Capacity utilization rates held steady at 76.7% in June. The consensus expected capacity utilization to increase slightly to 76.8%.
