U.S. Manufacturing Sloooooooooowing Down

U.S. manufacturing took its second straight dive in three months, with factory output falling 0.4% in May and overall industrial production -- including that from factories, mines and utilities -- down 0.1%. The statistics, released Friday by the Federal Reserve, undercut the economists' predictions -- which projected a 0.1% expansion overall.

The contraction occurred across most parts of the factory sector, according to a CNBC report. For instance, the production of durable goods declined 0.5%, a sharper dip than the 0.2% posted by nondurables. Utilities, by contrast, actually expanded 0.8 percent last month.

In a related development boding less than favorably for the manufacturing sector, the Fed's monthly analysis of New York's economy, showed that its index gauging Empire State business conditions fell 15 points to 2.3, its worst performance since November of 2011. Economists polled by Reuters had projected a 13 for May.

Observed New York equity strategist Peter Boockvar to CNBC recently: "This survey is very volatile month to month so we can't extrapolate the state of the entire country's manufacturing base from this one region but New York was one of the standouts in May that is now showing its vulnerability ... I'm sure we'll see more weakness in other regions as the global economy continues to slow."

Take a deep breath now. Watch the CNBC video -- http://bit.ly/MxtGOk.