Industrial production increased by nearly 1 percent in March and 8.1 percent in the first quarter on an annual rate, according to a Federal Reserve study.
Other outputs also increased in March, including manufacturing by 0.9 percent; motor vehicles and parts by 7.8 percent; factory output and utilities both by 0.4 percent; and durable and nondurable manufacturing 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Sparked by the increase in motor vehicle production, consumer durables and transit equipment increased 3.9 percent and 5.2 percent in March, respectively. Sales of consumer energy products and non-energy nondurables both increased by 0.7 percent.
During the first quarter, factory output increased at an annual rate of 5.4 percent.
Retail and food service sales increased by a half-percent to $665.7 billion in March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The sales, adjusted for seasonal changes and holiday and trading-day differences, increased nearly 7 percent from March 2021. Total sales from January through March increased nearly 13 percent from the same period in 2021. Retail trade sales, up by less than half-point from February, increased 5.5 percent from last year. As gas prices soared, sales spiked 37 percent from March 2021, while sales from food service and drinking establishments increased 19.4 percent on a year-to-year basis.