U.S. Industrial Production Falls 0.4% Amid Steep Drop In Utilities Output
January 15 2016 - 3:34AM
RTTF2
With utilities output showing another substantial decrease, the
Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing that U.S.
industrial production fell by more than expected in the month of
December.
The report said industrial production dropped by 0.4 percent in
December after slumping by a revised 0.9 percent in November.
Economists had expected production to dip by 0.2 percent
compared to the 0.6 percent decrease originally reported for the
previous month.
The sharp drop in utilities output contributed to the bigger
than expected decrease in production, with utilities output
tumbling by 2.0 percent in December after plummeting by 5.0
percent.
The Fed said the continued decrease in utilities output came as
warmer-than-usual temperatures reduced demand for heating.
Mining output also fell by 0.8 percent in December after
plunging by 2.1 percent in November, while manufacturing output
edged down by 0.1 percent for the second straight month.
The report also said capacity utilization for the industrial
sector fell to 76.5 percent in December from a downwardly revised
76.9 in November.
Economists had expected capacity utilization to edge down to
76.9 percent from 77.0 percent originally reported for the previous
month.
Capacity utilization in the utilities sector dropped to 73.2
percent, while capacity utilization in the mining and manufacturing
sectors edged down to 78.4 percent and 76.0 percent,
respectively.
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