December 2013 Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization and Capacity

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Industrial production rose 0.3 percent in December, its fifth consecutive monthly increase. For 4Q2013 as a whole, industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 6.8 percent, the largest quarterly increase since 2Q2010; gains were widespread across industries. Following increases of 0.6 percent in each of the previous two months, factory output rose 0.4 percent in December and was 2.6 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of utilities fell 1.4 percent after three consecutive monthly gains. 

At 101.8 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in December was 3.7 percent above its year-earlier level and 0.9 percent above its pre-recession peak in December 2007. Wood Products output dropped by 2.2 percent while Paper rose by 0.5 percent.

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Capacity utilization for total industry moved up 0.1 percentage point to 79.2 percent, a rate 1.0 percentage point below its long-run (1972--2012) average. Wood Products capacity utilization fell back by 2.3 percent while Paper increased by 0.5 percent.

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Capacity at the all-industries and manufacturing levels moved, respectively, 0.2 and 0.1 percent higher in December. By contrast, Wood Products remained unchanged while Paper contracted by 0.1 percent.

The foregoing comments represent the general economic views and analysis of Delphi Advisors, and are provided solely for the purpose of information, instruction and discourse. They do not constitute a solicitation or recommendation regarding any investment.