Page 7 - Aruba Today
P. 7
U.S. NEWS A7
Thursday 18 February 2016
US Financial Front:
Factory output rises in January by most in 6 months
C. S. RUGABER consumer spending for ba- A Boeing employee works on a horizontal stabilizer for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, at Boeing in Salt
AP Economics Writer sics and durable goods,” Lake City. On Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, the Federal Reserve reported on industrial production
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. said Dan Meckstroth, chief for January.
factories cranked out more economist at MAPI, a man-
autos, furniture and food ufacturing research group. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
last month, boosting pro- “We expect to see many
duction by the most since ups and downs in manu-
July. facturing production this
Manufacturing output rose year.” Utility output jumped
0.5 percent in January, af- 5.4 percent as Americans
ter falling in four of the pre- turned up the heat in their
vious five months, the Fed- homes after an unseason-
eral Reserve said Wednes- ably warm December. Min-
day. Overall industrial pro- ing, which includes oil and
duction, which includes gas drilling, was flat after
mining and utilities, added four months of declines.
0.9 percent, the biggest Sharply lower oil prices
jump in 14 months. have caused big drops in
The data could raise hopes mining, which now may be
that manufacturing may leveling off.
be stabilizing after out- The dollar has increased
put declined for much of about 20 percent since
last year. The strong dollar July 2014, which makes
and weak overseas growth U.S. goods more expen-
have cut into exports and sive overseas and lowers
the profits of large multi- the price of competing
national corporations. By imports. China, the world’s
some measures, U.S. facto- second-largest economy,
ries had contracted since has seen its growth slow,
last fall. which has hit developing
“This encouraging report countries that export to
should help quiet the re- China and weakened the
cession calls of late,” Jen- global economy.
nifer Lee, an economist at Yet some economists ar-
BMO Capital Markets, said. gue that most of U.S. man-
Americans are spending ufacturing has not been af-
at a solid pace, offsetting fected by overseas trends.
some of the overseas drag. Alexander Lin, an econo-
Some economists have mist at Bank of America
noted that manufactur- Merrill Lynch, points out
ing’s weakness has been that only a few sectors are
concentrated in sectors heavily dependent on in-
that are particularly sensi- ternational trade, includ-
tive to low oil prices and ing aircraft, steel and other
the global economy’s metals, and appliances.
health, such as aerospace “Negative sentiment to-
and industrial machinery. ward U.S. manufacturing
Meanwhile, auto sales rose may be overdone,” Lin
to a record level in 2015, wrote in a research note
and the production of cars last week.
and car parts rose 2.8 per- Tom Porcelli, chief econo-
cent, the most since July. mist at RBC Capital Mar-
Furniture output climbed kets, estimates that only
1.4 percent, and food pro- about 30 percent of U.S.
duction advanced 0.8 per- manufacturing has actual-
cent. “The major driver of ly reported a drop in output
manufacturing growth is over the past year.q
