"The manufacturing sector is clearly softening"
- Guy Berger, an economist at RBS Securities Inc.
U.S. industrial production unexpectedly declined in May, said the Federal Reserve on Friday. Output at factories dropped 0.1 per cent, after increasing 1 per cent in April.
"The manufacturing sector is clearly softening," said Guy Berger, an economist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut.
"We need to see more signs that the slowdown in manufacturing abroad is filtering in a big way into the U.S., which to us would start suggesting the slowdown here is a little deeper than we had expected."
Also Friday, the Thomson Reuters / University of Michigan consumer sentiment index declined to 74.1, the lowest reading since December.
"Income losses were reported by nearly one-third of all households in early June and the news reaching consumers about job prospects turned negative for the first time since late 2011," said Richard Curtin, survey director.
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