ROKT - Macro: Industrial Production
2023-11-21 03:01:00 ET
Summary
- Industrial production continues to show negative growth.
- This month is much about the auto industry.
- Furniture and Machinery have been weak for close to a year.
By Douglas R. Terry, CFA
Industrial production continues to show negative growth. This was perhaps the most important release of a busy week. It was at least the one that had the greatest effect on GDPNow (unfortunately to the downside).
This month is much about the auto industry. There have been some headlines about Americans broadly shunning EVs and inventory building on parking lots. The reasoning is that they are more expensive and less green than your standard combustion engine vehicles. But I think this is more about strikes. Idle plants are not good for production. This looks to be behind us, so expect this to improve.
Furniture and Machinery have been weak for close to a year. But you can see the recent fall in Motor Vehicles and Parts here.
The best part of the release is the level of crude processing, which is the first stage of production. Yes, we are onshoring, but the continued/additional strength in this series is a very good sign more broadly.
Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
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Macro: Industrial Production