General

Industrial production rose 0.8% in August after falling 0.9% in July. The decline in July was influenced by shutdowns due to Hurricane Beryl. Manufacturing output increased 0.9%, in part, due to a recovery in motor vehicles and parts production, which jumped nearly 10% in August. Meanwhile, manufacturing output excluding motor vehicles and parts production increased 0.3%. At 103.1% of its 2017 average, total industrial production in August was unchanged from the same month last year. Capacity utilization moved up to 78%, 1.7 percentage points below its long-term average from 1972 to 2023.

In August, the majority of major market groups saw gains. The consumer goods index rose 0.7%, with a 10.5% increase in automotive products making up for its loss in the previous month. The materials index grew 0.9%, with gains in all its subcomponents. Defense and space equipment posted a modest increase of 0.5%. The business equipment index rose 1.4%, supported by a 6.6% gain in the transit equipment index.

Durable goods manufacturing increased 2.1%. Apart from the large rebound in motor vehicles and parts, there were gains in primary metals (up 3.2%), electrical equipment, appliances and components (up 2.0%) and aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment (up 1.2%). Nondurable goods manufacturing, on the other hand, decreased 0.2% in August, with the largest losses in petroleum and coal products (down 2.3%) and apparel and leather (down 1.6%).

Manufacturing capacity utilization increased 0.6% to 77.2%, which is 1.1 percentage points below the long-term average.