US industrial production likely fell in August - RBS

Research Team at RBS, suggests that after back-to-back gains in June and July, US industrial production likely fell in August.

Key Quotes

“Manufacturing, the largest and most important of the three industry groups, may have seen output slip by 0.1%. Auto assemblies edged up in August but other factory-related data were weaker. For example, aggregate hours worked in manufacturing declined by 0.6% and the ISM manufacturing survey’s production component fell from 55.4 to 49.6 (the lowest since May 2009), signaling a contraction in factory output. Indeed, excluding autos, manufacturing output may have declined by 0.2%.

Outside of the factory sector, activity may have been mixed. Utility usage could have fallen by about 1½%, following gains of more than 2% in both June and July. On a positive note, mining output may have edged slightly higher for a second straight period. Finally, corresponding to the overall decline in industrial production, capacity utilization could have held slipped in August to 75.7%, leaving it 4.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2015) average.”