US manufacturing plunges in January
American manufacturing plunged in January, largely on a drop in vehicle assembly, cutting overall industrial production in its biggest decline since mid-2018, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.
Even excluding the sharp drop in vehicle output, manufacturing -- which is at the center of President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies -- still declined, albeit by a smaller amount.
That was only partially offset by the slight rebound in utilities, while the volatile mining sector edged slightly higher.
Manufacturing fell 0.9 percent last month compared to December, although it is still 2.9 percent higher than January 2018, according to the Fed report.
That drove overall output down 0.6 percent -- in both cases the biggest declines since May of last year.
Economists had been expecting a 0.2 percent gain in production. "In one line: Horrible, with further decline in manufacturing to come," Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said in reaction to the report.
“Manufacturing is under real pressure from the slowdown in China and the trade war and we expect output to drift down over the first half of the year, putting the sector into a mild recession."
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