After surging in November (by the most since Oct 2017), Industrial production was expected to contract modestly in December.

November's big jump was revised lower and the headline production printed a 0.3% MoM contraction (worse than expected), leaving US industrial production down 1.01% YoY - the worst since Oct 2016.

Source: Bloomberg

That makes 7 of the 12 months with contraction in 2019 and ends up being the worst year since 2015.

• Utilities fell 5.6% in Dec. after rising 1% in Nov.

• Mining rose 1.3% in Dec. after falling 0.2% in Nov.

Capacity utilization fell to 77% from 77.4% in Nov., revised up from 77.3%.

Manufacturing actually surprised to the upside in December (rising 0.2% MoM vs -0.1% exp), but year-over-year saw a 1.3% contraction...

Source: Bloomberg

And of course, the Dow Jones INDUSTRIAL Average continues to soar despite INDUSTRIAL Production remaining relatively stagnant...

Source: Bloomberg

And that's what The Fed is for.