by Calculated Risk on 5/14/2010 09:15:00 AM

From the Fed: Industrial production and Capacity Utilization

Industrial production increased 0.8 percent in April after having risen 0.2 percent in March. The rates of change for both January and March were revised up, but the rate of change for February was revised down; nevertheless, the cumulative change over those months was only slightly lower than previously reported. Manufacturing output climbed 1.0 percent in April for a second consecutive month and was 6.0 percent above its year-earlier level. The increases in manufacturing continued to be broadly based across industries.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is up 7.9% from the record low set in June 2009 (the series starts in 1967).

Capacity utilization at 73.7% is still far below normal - and 8.5% below the the pre-recession levels of 80.5% in November 2007.

Note: y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

The second graph shows industrial production since 1967.

This is the highest level for industrial production since Dec 2008, but production is still 9.0% below the pre-recession levels at the end of 2007.

Still a long way to go.