2019 Economic Calendar
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Industrial Production  
Released On 1/18/2019 9:15:00 AM For Dec, 2018
 PriorPrior RevisedConsensusConsensus RangeActual
Industrial Production - M/M0.6 %0.4 %0.3 %0.0 % to 0.6 %0.3 %
Manufacturing Output - M/M0.0 %0.1 %0.1 %0.0 % to 0.4 %1.1 %
Capacity Utilization Rate78.5 %78.6 %78.4 %76.7 % to 78.7 %78.7 %
US 6-Mo ChartGlobal Current
performance relative to consensus

Consensus Outlook
Slowing is the consensus for December industrial production to a rise of 0.3 percent vs a 0.6 percent jump in November that was led by rebounds in both utility and mining production. Manufacturing production proved soft in November at no change and is seen rising only 0.1 percent in December. Capacity utilization is expected to tighten slightly to 78.4 percent.

Relative Performance Index

Econoday's RPI provides a handy summary measure of how an economy has recently been evolving relative to market expectations.
A reading above zero means that the economy in general has been performing more strongly than expected and vice versa for a reading below zero. The closer is the value to the maximum (+100) or minimum (-100) levels, the greater is the degree to which markets have been under- or over-estimating economic activity. A zero outturn would imply that, on average, the market consensus has been correct. Note too that the index is sensitized to place extra weight upon those indicators that investors consider to be the most important.

 

Definition
The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilization rates cover manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. The industrial sector, together with construction, accounts for the bulk of the variation in national output over the course of the business cycle. The production index measures real output and is expressed as a percentage of real output in a base year, currently 2012. The capacity index, which is an estimate of sustainable potential output, is also expressed as a percentage of actual output in 2012. The rate of capacity utilization equals the seasonally adjusted output index expressed as a percentage of the related capacity index.

The index of industrial production is available nationally by market and industry groupings. The major groupings are comprised of final products (such as consumer goods, business equipment and construction supplies), intermediate products and materials. The industry groupings are manufacturing (further subdivided into durable and nondurable goods), mining and utilities. The capacity utilization rate -- reflecting the resource utilization of the nation's output facilities -- is available for the same market and industry groupings.

Industrial production was also revised to NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) in the early 2000s. Unlike other economic series that lost much historical data prior to 1992, the Federal Reserve Board was able to reconstruct historical data that go back more than 30 years. Why Investors Care

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