May 2009

The Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) and the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI) were both down 0.5% in April compared with March, halting their upward movements since the start of the year according to Statistics Canada.
 
The decline in the IPPI was led by lower prices for motor vehicles and other transport equipment (-2.2%) and pulp and paper products (-2.3%). These two product groups are more affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate.
 
The Canadian dollar rose 3.3% in April in relation to its US counterpart. If the exchange rate used to convert these prices had remained unchanged, the IPPI would have risen 0.3% instead of declining 0.5%.
 
12-month change
Year over year, the IPPI fell 2.2% in April following …

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April increased $3.0 billion or 1.9 percent to $161.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This was the second increase in the last three months and followed a 2.1 percent March decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.8 percent. Excluding defense, new orders also increased 1.0 percent.
 
Transportation equipment, up three consecutive months, had the largest increase, $2.1 billion or 5.4 percent to $40.5 billion.
 
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in April, down nine consecutive months, decreased $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to $174.2 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.9 percent …

The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) declined 1.1% in April to a seasonally adjusted level of 81.0 (2002 = 100). Revised data show the index decreased 2.9% in March to 81.8.
 
The Federal Reserve Board’s industrial production index for manufacturing (IPMFG) edged down 0.2% in April. Regional output in April was down 22.7% from a year earlier – lower than the 14.3% decrease in national output.
 
The region’s steel sector output declined 3.4% in April after dropping 6.1% in March. The nation’s steel output was down 1.8%. Regional steel output dropped 36.0% from its April 2008 level, and national steel output fell 25.3%.
 
Regional auto sector production moved down 2.0% in April after decreasing 0.8% in March. The …

U.S. manufacturing production continued to plummet in the first quarter of 2009 and global contagion continues, but a confluence of factors portend a modest rebound in 2010, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI U.S. Industrial Outlook: The Great Recession, a quarterly report that analyzes 27 major industries.
 
On an annual basis, MAPI forecasts manufacturing production to fall 12% in 2009 and grow 2% in 2010.  Manufacturing industrial production, measured on a quarter-to-quarter basis, declined at a 22% annual rate in first quarter 2009 after falling at an 18% annual rate in fourth quarter 2008.
 
Production in non-high-tech manufacturing dropped by a precipitous 22% annual rate in the first quarter of 2009.  Non-high-tech …