Industrial Production Fell 0.4% in October

We got a disappointing report this morning on industrial production. For October, industrial production fell by 0.4% which was twice as large as what economists were expecting. The growth rate for September was revised downward, from 0.4% to 0.2%.

The October number was clearly impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The Federal Reserve noted:

Hurricane Sandy, which held down production in the Northeast region at the end of October, is estimated to have reduced the rate of change in total output by nearly 1 percentage point.

We’ll have to wait for the November report to see how long-lasting the impact was. The industrial production report is important because few indicators line up better with economic official expansions and recessions.

Posted by on November 16th, 2012 at 11:12 am


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