Industrial production (IP) at factories, mines, and utilities advanced a strong 0.8% in April, seasonally adjusted, the Federal Reserve reported recently, after slipping 0.1% (initially estimated as -0.2%) in March. Factory production rose 0.7% in April, 0.1% in March (revised from 0), 1.1% in February, and 5.1% over the past 12 months.
Production of construction supplies jumped 1.1% in April. March and February gains were revised downward to 0.2% each from 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. The 12-month gain was 5%. Overall capacity utilization rose to 76.9% in April from 76.5% in March. Manufacturing capacity utilization, a possible indicator of future demand for factory construction, rose to 75.7% from 75.2% but remained far below the 1972-2003 average of 80%.