The Federal Reserve reported that the U.S. industrial production fell 0.6 percent m-o-m in January 2019, following a downwardly revised 0.1 percent m-o-m increase in December 2018 (originally a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance). It was the first decline since May 2018.

Economists had forecast industrial production would rise 0.1 percent m-o-m in January. 

According to the report, manufacturing production dropped 0.9 percent m-o-m, primarily due to a large decline in motor vehicle assemblies. Meanwhile, the indexes for mining and utilities increased 0.1 percent m-o-m and 0.4 percent m-o-m, respectively.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.6 percentage point m-o-m in January to 78.2 percent. That was 0.5 percentage points below economists’ forecast and 1.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2018) average. 

In y-o-y terms, the industrial output rose 3.8 percent in January, following an upwardly revised 4.1 percent surge in the prior month (originally a 4.0 percent gain). That marked the slowest rate of growth in industrial production recorded since June 2018.