Economy
June 17, 2015
Industrial Production and Manufacturing Capacity Utilization
Written by Peter Wright
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index was reported as 105.102 for May, down by 0.18 from April and down from the all-time high of 106.309 in November last year. The three month moving average, (3MMA) in May was 105.40, down by 0.23 from April. January was the highest value ever of the 3MMA at 106.11. The Y/Y growth rate of the 3MMA was 2.0 percent in May, the fourth consecutive month of decline.
Data is seasonally adjusted and the index is based on the July 2007 level being defined as 100. We have shortened the time axis of Figure 1 to better show the significance of the recent decline in the growth rate which was the slowest in five years.
