Industrial Production Jumps 0.7 Percent In September Powered By Utilities

Motor vehicle production is down 3 percent, utilities up 3.5 percent.

Please consider the Fed’s Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report for September 2026.

Industrial production (IP) increased 0.7 percent in September after edging up 0.1 percent in August. In the third quarter, IP increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. Manufacturing output rose 0.3 percent in September. The index for mining moved up 0.2 percent, and the index for utilities increased 3.5 percent.

At 104.0 percent of its 2017 average, total IP in September was 2.2 percent above its year-earlier level.

Capacity utilization moved up to 76.9 percent in September, a rate that is 2.5 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2025) average.

Industrial Production Month-Over Month

• Production: +0.7 percent

• Manufacturing: +0.3 percent

• Motor Vehicles and Parts: -3.0 percent

• Consumer Durable Goods: -1.5 percent

• Utilities: +3.5 percent

Utilities have a relative importance weight of roughly 12.4–12.9 percent in the industrial production index.

Utilities Contribution to Industrial Production

Using the prior-month (August) weight of ~12.58 percent × 3.5 percent rise ≈ 0.44 percentage points.

Thus utilities contributed ~0.44 percentage points of the overall 0.7 percentage point rise, ~63 percent of the rise in IP in September.

Industrial production powered by data center usage and warm weather is not exactly the greatest thing.

Industrial Production Components

Industrial Production Percent Change from Year Ago

• Production: +2.2 percent

• Manufacturing: +1.4 percent

• Motor Vehicles and Parts: -0.8 percent

• Consumer Durable Goods: -2.8 percent

• Utilities: +8.7 percent

Motor vehicle production is very volatile. The recent net is negative but subject to huge swings.

Industrial Production Since 1972

Industrial Production Detail

The index details highlight manufacturing weakness and Utilities strength.

Manufacturing peaked right at the onset of the Great Recession at 106.6. Its highest rebound just prior to the Covid recession was 102.0.

The Manufacturing index has been rising lately but sits at an anemic 99.4 now, down 6.8percent in the past 19 years.

Consumer durable goods manufacturing roughly tracks tracking which has been miserable since the end of 2022.

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