Mortgage Apps tumble, Empire Fed slumps, and now Industrial Production plunges... Against expectations of a 0.3% drop MoM, US Factory Output was twice as bad at -0.6% - the worst since August 2012 (and lamost worst since June 2009). This is the 4th miss in a row. What is even more stunning is that despite the coldest of cold winters that crashed the US economy, Utilities saw their output crash 5.9% - the most in 9 years (explained as follows - largely reversing a similarly-sized increase in February, which was related to unseasonably cold temperatures). Motor Vehicles saved the data from being a catastrophe with a 3.2% rise (following a 3.6% drop In Feb).
Not a pretty picture...
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With Utilities output dropping by the most since 2006...
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Charts: Bloomberg
