The
Federal Reserve reported on Tuesday the U.S. industrial production rose 0.8
percent m-o-m in May, following a revised 0.1 percent m-o-m advance in April
(originally a 0.7 percent m-o-m gain).
Economists
had forecast industrial production would increase 0.6 percent m-o-m in May.
According
to the report, the manufacturing output went up 0.9 percent m-o-m, due mainly to a
climb in motor vehicle assemblies. In addition, the mining production increased
1.2 percent m-o-m, while the output of utilities edged up 0.2 percent m-o-m.
Capacity
utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.6 percentage point m-o-m to 75.2
percent in May. That was 0.1 percentage point above economists’ forecast but 4.4
percentage points below its long-run (1972-2020) average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output surged 16.3
percent in May, following a revised 17.6 percent jump in the prior month (originally
a 16.5 percent climb) but it was 1.4 percent below its pre-pandemic level.