The Federal
Reserve reported on Tuesday the U.S. industrial production rose 0.4 percent
m-o-m in August, following a revised 3.5 percent m-o-m climb in July
(originally a 3.0 percent m-o-m gain).
Economists had
forecast industrial production would increase 1.0 percent m-o-m in August.
According to
the report, manufacturing output grew 1.0 percent m-o-m in August, although the
gains for most manufacturing industries have gradually slowed since June.
Meanwhile, the output of utilities fell 0.4 percent m-o-m in August and mining
production decreased 2.5 percent m-o-m as Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane
Laura caused steep but temporary declines in oil and gas extraction and well
drilling.
Capacity
utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.3 percentage points m-o-m to
71.4 percent in August. That was in line with economists’ forecast but 8.4 percentage
points below its long-run (1972-2019) average.
In y-o-y terms,
the industrial output dropped 7.7 percent in August, following a revised 7.4 percent
plunge in the prior month (originally an 8.2 percent decline).