U.S. industrial output increases less than expected in February

The Federal Reserve reported on Friday that the U.S. industrial production rose 0.1 percent m-o-m in February, following a revised 0.4 percent m-o-m decrease in January (originally a 0.6 percent m-o-m decline). 

Economists had forecast industrial production would rise 0.4 percent m-o-m in February. 

According to the report, manufacturing production reduced 0.4 percent m-o-m for its second consecutive monthly decline. Meanwhile, the index for utilities rose 3.7 percent m-o-m and the index for mining went up 0.3 percent m-o-m.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.1 percentage point m-o-m in February to 78.2 percent. That was 0.2 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 3.5 percent in February, following an unrevised 3.8 percent advance in the prior month. That marked the slowest rate of growth in industrial production recorded since June 2018.