The Day at a Glance | April 14 2023

*Industrial production in the US surprised to the upside and increased 0.4% monthly  in March – despite a contraction in manufacturing. 

*Retail sales in the US fell for a second consecutive month in March (-1.0%). 

*According to Reuters, the Mexican government has agreed to allow the state-owned oil company to delay payment of the Shared Utility Fee (DUC, for its initials in Spanish) in order to provide liquidity to cover the $2.5 billion dollars it still owes in debt amortizations this year.  

*The index of import prices for the US marked its third consecutive negative figure with a monthly -0.6% decrease, bringing the annual figure to its lowest level since May 2020 at -4.6%. Similarly, export prices became more moderate and logged -0.3% monthly and -4.8% annual figures; the annual figure is the lowest in 34 months. 

Economic environment

Industrial production in the US rebounded in March and logged a monthly 0.4% increase, which exceeded the consensus estimate of 0.2%. This performance was driven solely by utilities, which increased at a very robust rate (8.4% monthly), more than offsetting the setbacks in the manufacturing sector (-0.5% monthly) and mining, which fell for a second consecutive month (-0.5% m/m). However, the annual figure for the North American industry maintained a clear downwards trend by logging a 0.53% annual drop in manufacturing. Meanwhile, mining and services grew at a rate of 5.4% annual and 4.2% annual, respectively. Finally, industry capacity utilization increased marginally compared to the previous month (+0.2pp) to 79.8%. Although data was positive in March, it didn`t change the North American industry`s narrative of a slowdown in its manufacturing sector.