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Last Update: 15-Mar-13 09:51 ET
Industrial Production Posts Solid Rebound in February
Industrial production increased 0.7% in February reporting no growth in January. The Briefing.com consensus expected industrial production to increase 0.4%. Manufacturing production rebounded in February. Production rose 0.8% after falling 0.3% in January. That gain was in-line with the gains posted by the regional Federal Reserve manufacturing surveys and the national ISM report. Nearly all of the manufacturing sectors posted positive output in February. The motor vehicle industry contributed 0.2 percentage points to overall production growth after reducing production by 0.4 percentage points in January. Production of motor vehicles and parts rose 3.6% in February and recovered much of the 4.9% loss from January. Motor vehicle assemblies increased to 10.66 mln SAAR from 10.33 mln SAAR in January. That is still below the 11.01 mln SAAR peak reported in December. Auto assemblies were essentially flat, falling from 4.27 mln SAAR in January to 4.25 mln SAAR in February. Truck assemblies increased from 6.06 mln SAAR to 6.42 mln SAAR. Output at mines fell 0.3%, which was the third consecutive monthly decline. The return to normal seasonal temperatures helped increase utilities output 1.6% in February. Capacity utilization rates rose from an upwardly revised 79.2% (from 79.1%) in January to 79.6% in February. The consensus expected utilization rates to increase to 79.4%.
