The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production fell 0.5% in February after rising 0.1% in January. "The industrial sector remains in recession," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist of the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI trade group.
In a separate report, the Fed's New York district bank said its Empire State manufacturing survey stood at minus 22.23 in March, down from minus 11.72 in February. The previous low was minus 19.6, in November 2001. "New York manufacturing is rapidly slowing and the record-low measure of activity makes it clear the economy is in trouble," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
On the chart notice the year-over-year change in production was pretty even from about April 2007 to last month. Yesterday's figure moves the number lower in a big way. As mentioned below, one month does not a trend make.
In Fed's industrial production index is a very broad measure of production. It includes everything made or consumed in the US. Note the broad nature of the decreases:
The production of consumer goods decreased 0.6 percent in February with declines in the production of both consumer durables and consumer nondurables.
The output of business equipment edged up 0.1 percent in February, as an increase in information processing equipment outweighed decreases both in transit equipment and in industrial and other equipment.
The output of defense and space equipment declined 0.3 percent in February after having increased 1.0 percent in January.
The output of construction supplies fell 0.8 percent in February after having decreased 0.6 percent in January; the level of production in February was nearly 1 percent below its year-earlier level and 5.2 percent below its peak in 2006. The output of business supplies declined 1.1 percent in February.
The production of materials fell 0.5 percent in February after having changed little in January.
As for the New York Fed, their report was not encouraging:
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers deteriorated further in March. The general business conditions index fell another 10½ points to -22.2, a reading that eclipsed the record-low of -19.6 set in November 2001. Although the new orders index rose modestly, the shipments index edged down, and both remained in negative territory. The prices paid index rose for the third consecutive month, reaching its highest level since mid-2006, but the prices received index declined. Employment indexes remained close to zero. Future indexes were generally positive and up slightly for the month, but still well below levels of late last year. However, the future employment indexes rebounded noticeably after falling steeply in February.
And here's the chart:
That's gonna leave a mark.