NEW YORK - The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index rose 1.1% in January to a seasonally adjusted level of 84.1, as the steel, machinery, and auto sectors all showed improvement, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported Thursday.
Nationally, the Federal Reserve Board's industrial production index for manufacturing grew 0.3% in January. Overall manufacturing output in the region gained 9.2% from a year earlier, compared to 6.0% growth in output nationally in that period.
The December report showed a revised 0.7% increase to 83.2, originally reported as a 0.3% gain to 81.5
The regional auto sector's output increased 4.1% in the month, after a 0.2% slip in December, while national output was 1.6% better. Nationally, auto sector output gained 3.9% from a year ago while the Midwest auto sector's output increased 8.9% year-over-year, according to the Fed.
The regional steel sector's output increased 1.3% in the month, following a 2.1% rise in December. Nationally, steel sector output was unchanged in the month. On a year-over-year basis, steel output grew 18.2% in the region while climbing 11.0% in the nation.
The regional machinery sector's output grew 1.0% in the month, following a 0.8% increase in December. Nationally, machinery sector output jumped 0.8% in the month. On a year-over-year basis, machinery output grew 14.2% in the region while rising 12.3% in the nation.
The regional resource sector's output slipped 0.7% in January, following a 0.9% rise in December. Nationally, resource output was 0.2% lower in the month. Compared to January 2010, regional resource output was up 4.5%, while national resource output rose 3.1%. "The chemical subsector of the regional resource sector was the only one to increase from December to January, while the food, wood, paper, and nonmetallic subsectors decreased,” the Fed said.
