US Industrial Production Unexpectedly Plunged In February, Auto Manufacturing Crashed
US Industrial Production was expected to rise (+0.3% MoM) for the 9th month of the last 10 in February (the last 'clean' pre-COVID print before last March's collapse, which will spark YoY comp chaos). But, instead, industrial production tumbled 2.2% MoM - the biggest plunge since April 2020. That pushed the YoY drop in production down to 4.25%...
Source: Bloomberg
We assume there are weather-related factors driving this weakness - but did analysts not know that Texas suffered from a massive crisis?
- Utilities rose 7.4% in Feb. after falling 0.6% in Jan.
- Mining fell 5.4% in Feb. after rising 2.1% in Jan.
The biggest drops however were in motor vehicle production, which crashed in Feb...
Source: Bloomberg
Manufacturing was even worse, plunging 3.1% MoM (versus expectations of a 0.2% rise).
Source: Bloomberg
Capacity Utilization plunged
Source: Bloomberg
And finally, stonks don't care...
Source: Bloomberg
Luckily a few trillion dollars of excess should bring that back up soon enough as America's potemkin economy goes from 'strength' to 'strength'.