Industrial Production Rises, Led by Automobile-Related Gains

Washington, D.C., August 16, 2022 - Total industrial production increased 0.6% in July, up 3.9% year-over-year, according to the Federal Reserve. The numbers got a big boost from automobile-related gains.

“The index for durable consumer goods advanced 3.5%, boosted by a gain of 6.5% for automotive products that outweighed losses for appliances, furniture and carpeting (2.6%) and for home electronics (0.9%),” a release states.

Manufacturing output gained 0.7% after having fallen 0.4% in each of the two previous months. Factory output outside of automobile manufacturing moved up 0.3% (compared with 6.6% for motor vehicles and parts) and the index for mining increased 0.7%, while the index for utilities decreased 0.8%.

Capacity utilization moved up 0.4 percentage point in July to 80.3%, a rate that is 0.7 percentage point above its long-run average.