The Federal Reserve released its industrial production report on Wednesday. The U.S. industrial production dropped 0.6% in March, missing expectations for a 0.2% decrease, after a 0.1% rise in February.

The decline was driven by lower output of utilities. Utility output plunged by 5.9% in March.

Mining output dropped by 0.7% in March.

The U.S. manufacturing production increased 0.1% in March. It was the first gain since November 2014.

Capacity utilisation rate fell to 78.4% in March from 79.0% in February. February's figure was revised up 78.9% Analysts had expected a capacity utilisation rate of 78.7%.

The Fed tend to use capacity utilisation as a signal of how much "slack" remains in the economy.

These figures are pointing to a slower economic growth in the U.S. in the first quarter.