The data released
by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday revealed that the U.S. industrial production slipped
by 0.1 per cent m-o-m in November,
following a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent m-o-m decrease m-o-m (from -0.3 per cent m-o-m) in October. Overall, this was the
third straight monthly drop in industrial output.
Economists had predicted
industrial production would grow 0.3 per cent m-o-m in November.
According to
the report, the November marginal decrease in industrial output reflected declines
in mining production (-0.9 per cent m-o-m) and output of utilities (-1.3 per cent
m-o-m), which more than offset an increase in manufacturing production (+0.2
per cent m-o-m).
Capacity utilization for the industrial sector dropped by 0.2 percentage point m-o-m to 76.8 per cent in November from a downwardly revised 77.0 per cent (from 77.1 per
cent) in October. That was 0.5 percentage point below economists’ prediction of 77.3 per cent and 2.9 percentage
points below its long-run
(1972-2023) average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output fell 0.9 per cent in November, following
an unrevised 0.3 per cent decrease in the previous month. This marked the steepest
annual fall since January (-1.2 per cent).