Is this all the rebound the stimulus bought us?
The story is still unfolding: industrial production still shows traces of stimulus money, but most of that has now ended.
Industrial production (blue line) shows a pullback as stimulus money trickles out. Whether it has peaked or will re-surge remains to be seen, but as the flood of stimulus dollars trails down to its final drips, it's important to watch and see how sustained this rebound is. Orange lines compare industrial production to its position 12 months before, pink lines to 1 month before.
SoldAtTheTop / Paper Economy
Today, the Federal Reserve released their monthly read of industrial production showing a sudden pullback with total industrial production declining .22% from August but remaining 5.42% above the level seen in September 2009.
While this report appears weak, it is too soon to conclude that production is peaking though it's important to acknowledge the extent to which the massive government stimulus played a role in generating the trend since early 2009.
With the the stimulus now waning, it will be important to watch the trend in industrial production to see how sustained the growth truly is.
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