• Manufacturing production declined 0.3% in December, pulling back from November’s 0.6% increase, which was the best level since December 2018. Manufacturers have been challenged by supply chain bottlenecks, workforce shortages, rising production costs and, more recently, the spread of the omicron variant.
  • Manufacturing capacity utilization edged down from 77.2% in November, also the strongest since December 2018, to 77.0% in December. Overall, manufacturing production has risen 3.5% year-over-year, with 1.5% growth relative to February 2020’s pre-pandemic pace.

Total industrial production edged down 0.1% in December, easing marginally after rebounds of 1.2% and 0.7% in October and November, respectively.