Industrials sector head Jay Van Sciver released a number of charts to his institutional clients earlier this week. Here's one we found very interesting. It compares industrial production in three regions: the United States, Europe and Japan. Van Sciver writes:
"The mid-month lull in data is a good chance to step back and look at global industrial activity. Europe and Japan (note Japan is on the right axis) continue to show year-on-year declines in industrial activity. Industrial activity in Europe and Japan has continued to contract, although Europe seems to have rebounded from year-end weakness. Industrial activity in the US has remained positive but continued to slow as of January. Given stronger US transport data so far in 2013, February and March data may improve."
