U.S. Industrial Production Increased At End Of 2025

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Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. industrial production increased 0.4 percent in December and grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025. Manufacturing output rose 0.2 percent in December, but declined at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter. The index for mining fell 0.7 percent, meanwhile, while the index for utilities climbed 2.6 percent. At 102.3 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in December was two percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization stepped up to 76.3 percent, a rate that is 3.2 percentage points below its long-run average.
• According to Statistics Canada, total manufacturing sales fell 1.2 percent from October 2025 to November 2025 due to lower sales in 15 of the 21 subsectors. The decline was mostly driven by a 15.9 percent decline sales in sales of motor vehicles, a 6.3 percent drop in motor vehicle part sales, and a 3.2 percent fall off in machinery sales. These declines were partially offset by a 6.8 percent increase in sales of petroleum and coal products. From November 2024 to November 2025, total sales were down 1.1 percent in November.
• U.S. business inventories increased 0.3 percent from September 2025 to October 2025. Retail inventories rose 0.6 percent while wholesale inventories were up 0.2 percent, and manufacturing inventories remained unchanged. Overall, business sales fell 0.2 percent, with wholesale sales declining 0.4 percent and retail sales falling 0.1 percent. The inventories-to-sales ratio increased to 1.38 from 1.37.
• Regional manufacturing reading are showing some promise this month. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, manufacturing activity in the state increased in January. The bank’s general conditions index rose 11.4 points to +7.7. New orders increased while the shipments index, at +16.3, reached its highest level in 12 months. Employment and employee workweeks both declined, however. Forward-looking indicators also showed greater expectations of future expansion, although that index expanded at a slower rate than in previous months. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s manufacturing index for February rose 21.4 points to +12.6, meanwhile. New orders increased to +14.4, while shipments jumped to +9.5. The report’s future activity data appeared optimistic for overall growth over the upcoming six-month period. Read that full report at this link.
• The number of new homes sold in the United States fell 0.1 percent between September 2025 and October 2025, but increased 18.7 percent between October 2024 and October 2025. Existing home sales, meanwhile, were up 5.1 percent from November 2025 to December 2025 and 1.4 percent between December 2024 and December 2025.
• During the week that ended Jan. 10, 198,000 Americans filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time, a drop of 9,000 from the previous week’s level. The four-week moving average of first-time claims was 205,000, down 6,500 from the previous week. The number of people who continued to receive jobless benefits rose to 1.884 million for the week that ended Jan. 3, 2026. That number fell 19,000 from the week before. Additionally, the four-week moving average of continuing claims dropped to 1,889,250, a decrease of 250 from the week before.
• In other economic news: the U.S. producer price index increased 0.2 percent between October 2025 and November 2025 and three percent between November 2024 and November 2025; the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.3 percent between November 2025 and December 2025 and was up 2.7 percent from December 2024 to December 2025; and U.S. import prices rose 0.4 percent between September 2025 and November 2025 while export prices were up 0.5 percent for the same period.