Fed: October 2020 industrial production rises 1.1%

The Federal Reserve reported October 2020 industrial production rose 1.1%.
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October 2020 industrial production rises

Per the Fed, October 2020 industrial production rose but remained 5.6% lower than the pre-pandemic level in February.
However, the Fed also noted the industrial production index has recovered most of the 16.5% decline posted from February to April.

Manufacturing gains

As the U.S. continues to battle the pandemic and its impacts across the board, manufacturing showed positive signs in October.
Manufacturing output ticked up 1.0% last month after a 0.1% increase in September.
Nonetheless, the sector still has a ways to go. Manufacturing output in October remained 5.0% below its February level.
Manufacturing capacity utilization rose 0.7 percentage point to 71.7%, up 11.6 percentage points from April. However, the rate remained 6.5 points below the long-run average (1972-2019).
“The index for durable manufacturing stepped up 0.9 percent, as small drops in the indexes for furniture and related products, fabricated metal products, and motor vehicles and parts were outweighed by gains elsewhere, especially for aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment and for miscellaneous manufacturing,” the Fed reported.
Meanwhile, the index for nondurables ticked up by 1.2%.

Mining output slips

Meanwhile, mining output in October fell 0.6%, the Fed reported.
Furthermore, oil and gas extraction fell in October after rising in September.
On the other hand, the utilization rate for mining dropped to 77.9%. The long-run average for minig is 87.2%.

Employment gains

Meanwhile, on the job market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported manufacturing sector jobs rose by 38,000 in October.
Even so, manufacturing employment remained down by a whopping 621,000 jobs compared with February.
In the metals sectors, the fabricated metals sector saw employment rise by 7,000. Meanwhile, the primary metals sector added 6,000 jobs.
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