The data published
by the Federal Reserve on Thursday revealed that the U.S. industrial production
was unchanged m-o-m in April, following a downwardly revised 0.1 per cent m-o-m
advance (from +0.4 per
cent m-o-m) in March.
Economists had forecast
industrial production would increase 0.1 per cent m-o-m in April.
According to
the report, the April flat performance of
total industrial production reflected declines in manufacturing production (-0.3 per cent
m-o-m) and mining output (-0.6 per cent m-o-m) that were offset by a surge in output
of utilities (+2.8 per cent m-o-m).
Meanwhile,
capacity utilization for the industrial sector slipped 0.1 percentage point
m-o-m to 78.4 per cent in April from an upwardly revised 78.5 per cent (from 78.4 per
cent) in March. That was in line with economists’ estimate but 1.2 percentage points below its
long-run (1972-2023) average.
In y-o-y terms, the industrial output fell 0.4 per cent in April, following an
upwardly revised 0.1 per
cent gain (from 0.0 per cent) in the previous month. This was the first annual drop
in U.S. industrial production in three months.