Industrial Output Turns 0.2% Higher During April

Industrial production edged up 0.2% in April following two months of declines, the government reported Thursday. But analysts said the weak advance offered little hope that the nation’s battered manufacturing sector is poised for a rebound.

The small improvement last month came after declines of 0.7% in March and 0.8% in February, the biggest back-to-back drops in industrial output since the end of the recession in 1982.

Since January, 166,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing and the oil and gas industry, two segments of the economy that have showed particular weakness this year.

Michael Evans, head of a Washington consulting firm, predicted larger trade deficits in the months ahead before the weaker dollar finally begins to help curb imports and boost U.S. export sales.

“We are getting clobbered by imports,” he said.

Jerry Jasinowski, chief economist for the National Assn. of Manufacturers, agreed that industrial production was likely to be weaker in the current April-June period, holding back overall economic growth as well.

“While there has been some rebound in durable goods, elsewhere the growth rates have been so anemic that industrial output as a whole is stagnant,” he said.

The report said oil and gas drilling fell by 1.5% last month and now stands 5.5% below where it was in December as oil companies continue to cut back exploration activities in the face of slumping worldwide energy prices.

One of the few areas of strength came in the auto industry, with vehicle production climbing to an annual rate of 8.1 million units last month from 7.7 million in March.