Industrial production plunges unprecedented 11.2 per cent in April

American industry suffered the most severe plunge on record last month with factories, mines and utilities battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Reserve said Friday that its industrial production index tumbled a record 11.2 per cent in April.

Manufacturing output also posted a record drop 13.7 per cent as production of cars, trucks and auto parts plummeted more than 70 per cent.

Production of aerospace and other transportation products, metals and furniture fell around 20 per cent.

Output dropped 6.1 per cent at mines and 0.9 per cent at utilities.

The implosion of the US industrial sector was not unexpected, but the scale of the collapse was stunning.

Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote one can't help but grimace."
Auto output at the large factories is slated to resume on Monday, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, so we should see a pickup in manufacturing activity in May."