US (DIA) manufacturing production fell 0.4% in February according to Federal Reserve data, marking the second straight month of output contraction. A decline in motor vehicle, machinery, and furniture output was the main contributor to February's slowdown. Manufacturing production fell 0.5% (revised upward from -0.9%) in January.
Slowing global growth and US-China trade tensions seem to be catching up to US fundamentals. China's industrial data, released yesterday, showed that production grew 5.3% year-over-year in January and February combined, a 17-year low. To learn more, read China Slowdown Deepens: Industrial Output at 17-Year. China (FXI), however, is not alone in facing trade woes. US companies Apple (AAPL) and NVIDIA (NVDA) have warned that China's slowdown is hurting their earnings, and Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), Alphabet (GOOG), and Facebook (FB) have been impacted by the trade issues between the world's two largest economies.
According to CNBC, economists were expecting US (SPY) manufacturing production to rise 0.3% last month. Also, the manufacturing sector's capacity utilization fell to 75.4% from 75.8% in January, and sales of new US single-family homes fell more than expected. The Empire State Manufacturing Index shows that general business conditions have dropped to 3.7 this month, the lowest since May 2017.
Citigroup analyst Christian Wetherbee stated that the slowing global economy, a softer outlook for the Express division, and profit headwinds from the TNT integration might weigh on FedEx's near-term financial performance.
This week, Beto O'Rourke announced his bid to run in the 2020 presidential race.