American industry suffered the most severe plunge on record last month with factories, mines and utilities battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Reserve said Friday that its industrial production index tumbled a record 11.2% in April. Manufacturing output also posted a record drop — 13.7% — as production of cars, trucks and auto parts plummeted more than 70%. Production of aerospace and other transportation products, metals and furniture fell around 20%. Output dropped 6.1% at mines and 0.9% at utilities. The implosion of the U.S. industrial sector was not unexpected, but the scale of the collapse was stunning. Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote “one can’t help but grimace.” Industry was running at 64.9% of capacity last month, shattering the previous record low set in the Great Recession year 2009. Factory capacity utilization also hit a record low 61.1%. Manufacturing may […]