Economy

Industrial Production Ticks Down 0.1% in March, Fueled By Decline in Mining

Industry production 4.0 and technology concept, depicting factory production on a conveyor belt with factory operational workers in uniform. (Photo: AdobeStock)

The Federal Reserve said industrial production ticked down 0.1% in March, a forecast miss fueled by a decline in mining output.

The consensus forecast was looking for a gain of 0.3%, ranging from a low of -0.2% to a high of 0.4%.

	Prior	Consensus	Range	Actual
Production – M/M	0.1%	0.3%	-0.2% — 0.4%	-0.1%
Manufacturing – M/M	-0.4%	0.3%	0.1% — 0.5%	-0.4%
Capacity Utilization Rate	78.2%	79.1%	78.4% — 79.4%

Industrial production inched up 0.1% in February. For the first quarter (Q1) 2019 as a whole, the index has declined 0.3% on an annual basis.

Manufacturing production was unchanged in March after declining in both January and February. The consensus forecast for manufacturing was looking for a gain of 0.3%, ranging from a low of 0.1% to a high of 0.5%.

The index for utilities increased 0.2%, while mining output moved down 0.8%.

At 110.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 2.8% higher in March than it was a year earlier. The Capacity Utilization Rate declined by 0.2% in March to 78.8%, a rate that is 1.0% below its long-run (1972–2018) average.

The consensus forecast was looking for a gain to 79.1%, ranging from a low of 78.4% to a high of 79.4%.

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Richard D. Baris

Rich, the People's Pundit, is the Data Journalism Editor at PPD and Director of the PPD Election Projection Model. He is also the Director of Big Data Poll, and author of "Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract."