The output of US manufacturers increased at a substantial pace in December of 2017 with growth reaching an 11 month high.
Manufacturers attributed the increased demand to both new and existing domestic customoers with realtively flat demand on export sales.
US based manufactures also noted that the cost of their inputs had increased and that they had been adding to their firm's payrolls.
It is still to early to see if this is part of a longer term trend and if the increased cost of inputs and additional staff finally lead to a pick up in the overall llevel of inflation.