U.S. Manufacturing Industry Posts Nearly $150 Billion 1st Quarter Profits

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that American manufacturing corporations posted $148.0 billion in profits during the first quarter of 2012.  These profits, though only marginally higher than the net income of $145.4 billion in 2011, are still at a level unseen even before the recession.  In the fourth quarter of 2008, manufacturing corporations truly felt the brunt of the recession, and actually recorded a loss of almost $75 billion, but since then, profits have rebounded swiftly to their current levels of nearly $150 billion.  Sales on the whole also increased.  In the first quarter of 2012, sales reached almost $1.7 trillion, up from about $1.57 trillion in the first quarter of 2011.