The data published
by the Federal Reserve on Friday showed that the U.S. industrial production surged
by 0.9 per cent m-o-m in December
2024, following an upwardly revised 0.2 per cent m-o-m gain m-o-m (from -0.1 per cent m-o-m) in November 2024. This marked the strongest monthly increase
in industrial production since February 2024 (+1.2 per cent m-o-m).
Economists had anticipated
industrial production would rise 0.3 per cent m-o-m in December.
According to
the report, the December advance in industrial output reflected increases in
outputs in all three major industry groups - utilities (+2.1 per cent
m-o-m), mining (+1.8 per cent m-o-m) and manufacturing (+0.6per
cent m-o-m)).
The Fed noted
that gains in the output of aircraft and parts
contributed 0.2 percentage point to total industrial production growth
following the resolution of a work stoppage at a major aircraft manufacturer.
Capacity utilization for the industrial sector jumped by 0.6 percentage point m-o-m to 77.6 per cent in December from an upwardly revised 77.0 per cent (from 76.8 per
cent) in November. That was 0.6 percentage point above economists’ estimate of 77.0 per cent and 2.1 percentage points
below its long-run (1972-2023)
average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output increased 0.5 per cent in December,
following an upwardly revised 0.6 per cent drop (from -0.9 per cent) in the previous month. This represented
the first annual advance in U.S. industrial production since June 2024 (+0.9
per cent).