According to the Industrial Production Index report from the Federal Reserve (Fed), manufacturing production in the United States did not change during the month of May, after the 0.7% increases recorded in February and April, which were related to the accumulation of inventory and the anticipation of many companies in the face of shortages and high prices caused by the war in the Middle East.

However, the report highlighted that factory production increased by 1.4% year-on-year. The production of computer and electronic products had an increase of 10.3% in the last 12 months, and the production of durable manufactured goods had an increase of 1.2%.

For its part, the production of household appliances and electrical components, communications equipment, semiconductors and electronic components added an increase of 14.4% year-on-year.

For Samuel Tombs, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, “many companies feared since February that the sudden closure of the Strait of Hormuz would cause supply chain disruptions later this year, so they placed orders with manufacturers in advance,” he said; That caused production during the first months of the year to skyrocket.

However, with production stagnating due to high import tariffs and high energy prices, both artificial intelligence and tax incentives for investment are boosting the sector.

In this regard, Citigroup economist Veronica Clark commented that, “although much of this investment is imported, domestic production of these goods has also been increasing and will likely continue to drive total manufacturing activity in the coming months,” she told Reuters.

Although surveys such as the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State have revealed that recent months have seen a further deterioration in delivery performance and a drop in supply, and this is partly due to general business conditions having fallen to 5.7 this month.