LANSING – The monthly index of manufacturing activity in the Midwest showed that it increased in September over August and was spurred in large part by a pickup of automotive related manufacturing, the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said Monday.
Even with the increase, the report showed that manufacturing in the states it follows was down 15.7 percent from September 2008. Nationally, all manufacturing was down by 7.2 percent from the year before.
But with the boost, the Midwest manufacturing index stood at 82.3 (in 2002 the index stood at 100). In August, the index was at 81.6.
Auto-related manufacturing jumped by 5.5 percent in the month, though the sector stood at historically weak levels of just 50 in its index. Still, earlier in the year the index had stood at 40 for auto manufacturing. At its peak in 2001 it stood at nearly 120 in the index.
Steel production was up by 1.3 percent during September, while resource production was up by 0.2 percent.
The only down sector on the index was machinery manufacturing which fell by 1.8 percent.
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