(Washington) Industrial production rebounded more than expected in July in the United States, thanks to a sharp rise in automobile construction, according to data released Tuesday by the US central bank (Fed).
Posted at 10:02
Production rose 0.6% from June, better than the 0.3% that analysts had expected. The increase is 3.9% compared to July 2021.
This increase was driven by the manufacture of cars and spare parts, which rebounded by 6.6% after two months of decline. The sector has been for a year and a half, very disturbed by the world shortage of semiconductors, which significantly slows down production.
The entire manufacturing sector is thus benefiting from this increase, and recorded an increase in production of 0.7% compared to June, despite weaker growth for the other product categories, and even slight declines for electrical appliances. and furnishings.
Demand from US consumers is indeed slowing as their purchasing power is reduced by high inflation, and borrowing costs rise due to the measures taken by the Fed to curb this rise in prices.
Mining production increased by 0.7% over one month, while production of public utility services (water, electricity) fell by 0.8%.
The industrial capacity utilization rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 80.3%, a rate 0.7 percentage point higher than the average calculated between 1972 and 2021.
The industrial production data for the previous months have also been revised, and show, in June, a stagnation and not a drop in production as previously announced. The month of May, on the other hand, recorded a slight decline (-0.1%) and not stagnation as initially announced.