U.S. Industrial Production Falls Less Than Forecast

Source: Bloomberg

Industrial production in the U.S. fell in April at the slowest pace in six months, signaling manufacturing may be stabilizing.

Output at factories, mines and utilities decreased 0.5 percent last month, less than forecast, after falling a revised 1.7 percent in March, according to a report from the Federal Reserve today in Washington. The amount of industrial capacity in use dropped to a record-low 69.1 percent.

Companies may not cut back as deeply this quarter after paring inventories at the fastest pace on record in the first three months of the year, helping ease the economic slump. Still, rising confidence has yet to give way to sustained gains in spending, indicating a recovery will be slow to develop.

“The fallout has been so severe that we should start to see some stabilization, and we could even see some rebound in the months to come,” said Eugenio Aleman, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis. Prospects for a second-half recovery “are there just because the fiscal package is going to have an impact.”



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aDc5Kd2guqS8&refer=home

Fact: industrial production fell last month.

The "less than expected" rhetoric is a propaganda ploy to keep the suckers in the latest rally at the Wall Street casino. Furthermore the words "signaling manufacturing may be stabilizing" is an opinion ... it is not a fact.

It is interesting how much financial and economic reporting is filled with opinion and editorial comment -- much more than reporting on any other kind of news. Yet, very few people call out financial reporters for their bias.

Truth is when you look at the economic news there really aren't any "green shoots" ... things right now may not be getting worse as quickly as there were at the end of last year, but they are still getting worse.

Nobody wants more pain -- but I don't think people want all this lying and spinning. Of course, I could be wrong ... we are so used to living in denial in this country about any unpleasantness.