Manufacturing Output Posted the Largest Gain Since February 2018
Industrial production rose 0.3% in December after increasing by 0.4% in November, meeting the consensus forecast.
For the fourth quarter (Q4), total industrial production has risen at an annual rate of 3.8%.
In December, manufacturing output gained a solid 1.1%, its largest gain since February 2018. The output of mines also rose solidly at 1.5%.
However, warmer-than-usual temperatures lowered the demand for heating, pushing down the index for utilities by a whopping 6.3%.
At 109.9% of its 2012 average, total industrial production was still 4.0% higher in December than it was a year earlier.
Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 0.1 percentage point in December to 78.7 percent, a rate that is 1.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.
