JULY 23, 2010

Industrial Production Edges Up Slightly

Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in June, marking the fourth straight monthly increase in overall production. Although the increase was relatively soft, it did beat analyst expectations of a 0.2-percent drop for the month. Production during Q2 increased at a 6.6-percent annualized rate, down slightly from Q1’s 7-percent rate.

The small gain for June was concentrated entirely in mining and utilities, where output rose 0.4 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. The utility output gain, spurred mostly by one of the warmest Junes on record, followed a 5.6-percent jump in May. Manufacturing dropped 0.4 percent for the month, the largest drop this year. Capacity utilization was unchanged at 74.1 percent. Manufacturers have helped lead the economy out of the recession, but continued growth will depend on recovery of the labor market over the next several quarters.

Source: Federal Reserve

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DECEMBER 18, 2009

Last week the U.S. House approved legislation that places new restrictions on Wall Street and the activities of the nation’s largest banks, requires Federal Reserve monetary policy be subjected to audits and gives shareholders a say on the pay of top executives of financial firms, according to The New York Times.

The legislation, which is the most ambitious restructuring of federal financial regulations since the New Deal, is an attempt to thwart a replay of last year’s Wall Street failures that plunged the nation deep into recession. The measure creates a new agency to oversee consumer lending, establishes new rules for transactions that contributed to the meltdown and seeks to reduce the threat that one or two huge companies on the verge of collapse could bring down the entire U.S. economy.

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