The Federal
Reserve reported on Thursday that the U.S. industrial production fell 0.2 m-o-m
in July, following a revised 0.2 percent m-o-m gain in June (originally flat
m-o-m).
Economists had
forecast industrial production would increase 0.1 percent m-o-m in July.
According to
the report, the mining output fell 1.8 percent m-o-m in July, as Hurricane
Barry caused a sharp but temporary decline in oil extraction in the Gulf of
Mexico. Meanwhile, the output of utilities rose 3.1 percent m-o-m, while the manufacturing
production slid 0.4 percent m-o-m.
Capacity
utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.3 percentage point m-o-m in July
to 77.5 percent. That was 0.3 percentage point below economists’ forecast and 2.3
percentage points below its long-run (1972-2018) average.
In y-o-y terms,
the industrial output rose 0.5 percent in July, following a revised 1.1 percent
advance in the prior month (originally a gain of 1.3 percent).