April Industrial Production up 13%

Consumer durable goods industrial production in April was up 13.2% compared to April 2009. This marks the fourth consecutive month of significant month over month growth in the industrial production index. Of course, the last four months are being compared to perhaps the worst four months of this recession – as far as industrial production goes. While consumer durable goods industrial production is up month over month, there hasn’t been much improvement in the index since September 2009. April’s reading of 86.2 is just 2% higher than September’s reading of 84.4. You can see from the chart that consumer durable goods industrial production has remained pretty flat for the last 8 months – although there has been a dip and recovery along the way. However, some sectors of durable goods industrial production have seen noticeable improvement from the bottom of the recession. These sectors include mining, oil, and gas field machinery, construction equipment, farm equipment, machinery, and motor vehicles and parts. To see more on leading indicators for industrial production go here.