The data published
by the Federal Reserve on Thursday revealed that the U.S. industrial production
dropped by 0.6 per cent m-o-m in July,
following a downwardly revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m rise m-o-m (from +0.6 per cent m-o-m) in June.
This marked the first monthly decline in industrial output in four months.
Economists had forecast
industrial production would decrease 0.3 per cent m-o-m in July.
According to
the report, early July shutdowns concentrated in the petrochemical and related
industries due to Hurricane Beryl held down the growth of industrial production
by an estimated 0.3 percentage point. Output of utilities (-3.7 per cent m-o-m)
and manufacturing production (-0.3 per cent m-o-m) reduced in July, while mining
output (flat per cent m-o-m) remained unchanged.
Meanwhile,
capacity utilization for the industrial sector fell 0.6 percentage point m-o-m
to 77.8 per cent in July from a downwardly
revised 78.4 per cent (from 78.8 per cent) in June. That was 0.7 percentage
point below economists’ prediction of
78.5 per cent and 1.9 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2023) average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output slipped 0.2 per cent in July, following a
downwardly revised 1.1
per cent advance (from +1.6 per cent) in the previous month. This represented
the first annual decline in U.S. industrial production in three months.