Output at America’s factories, mines and utilities rose for the third straight month in September, positive signs for the ailing manufacturing sector.
Higher output of motor vehicles and parts spurred much of the increase, due in part to the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” auto incentives program. Still, steel and other sectors also posted gains.
“Thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program, replenishing inventories and exports, U.S. factories are getting back into business,” Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients.
The Federal Reserve said industrial production rose 0.7 percent last month. That beat the 0.2 percent increase that Wall Street economists expected, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
August output also was revised higher, to 1.2 percent from 0.8 percent.
Industrial output increased at a 5.2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Fed said, the largest quarterly gain since the first three months of 2005. It’s also the first quarterly increase since the beginning of 2008.
Factory output, the single largest slice of industrial production, rose for the third straight month, increasing 0.9 percent. Much of that improvement was fueled by higher auto manufacturing, which rose 8.1 percent. (AP)
