The data issued
by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday showed that the U.S. industrial production rose
by 0.7 per cent m-o-m in February,
following a downwardly revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m increase m-o-m (from +0.5 per cent m-o-m) in January. Overall, this was the third straight monthly advance in industrial output.
Economists had expected
industrial production would increase by 0.2 per cent m-o-m in February.
According to
the report, the
February rise in industrial output reflected gains in mining production (+2.8
per cent m-o-m) and manufacturing output (+0.9 per cent m-o-m). The latter was boosted
by an 8.5 per cent m-o-m surge in production of motor vehicles and parts.
Meanwhile, output of utilities (-2.5 per cent m-o-m) declined.
Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased by 0.5 percentage point m-o-m to 78.2 per cent in February, its highest level
in eight months, from a downwardly
revised 77.7 per cent (from 77.8 per cent) in January. That was 0.4 percentage
point above economists’ forecast of
77.8 per cent but 1.4 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2024) average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output climbed by 1.4 per cent in February,
following a downwardly revised 1.9 per cent jump (from +2.0 per cent) in the previous month.