Another sign of a still-strengthening U.S. economy: American manufacturers increased their capacity for the 16th straight month in September. In that month, manufacturing was up 1.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data out from the Federal Reserve this week.
The Fed's report suggests investment in U.S. manufacturing has been increasing at a steady pace over the past three years. In June of this year, it finally passed its prior peak from 2008. Manufacturing capacity began recovering from a steep decline in 2011, faded in 2014 and resumed a modest march higher in mid-2015.
The latest Fed manufacturing report showed factory output also rose in September, helping drive overall industrial production up 0.3 percent for the month. And that's in spite of being “held down slightly” by Hurricane Florence, which reduced output by less than 0.1 percentage point.
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