U.S. Industrial Production Rises 0.3% In December, In Line With Estimates

(RTTNews) - Industrial production in the U.S rose in line with economist estimates in the month of December, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve on Friday, with increases in manufacturing and mining production offsetting a pullback in utilities output.

The Fed said industrial production increased by 0.3 percent in December after jumping by a revised 1.0 percent in November.

The December increase matched economist estimates, while the previous month's growth was downwardly revised from 1.1 percent.

Paul Dales, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said, "With both the domestic and overseas economies improving, America's industrial recovery will continue despite December's timid 0.3% m/m rise in production."

Factory output increased by 0.4 percent in December following two consecutive 0.6 percent monthly increases, while mining production rose by 0.8 percent after surging up by 1.9 percent in November.

The increases offset a 1.4 percent drop in utilities output, which pulled back after seeing substantial increases for three straight months.

The Fed said industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, representing the largest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2010.

Additionally, the central bank said industrial production in December was 3.7 percent above its year-ago level and 0.9 percent above its pre-recession peak in December 2007.

The report also showed that capacity utilization inched up to 79.2 percent in December from 79.1 percent in January. Economists had expected capacity utilization to edge up to 79.1 percent from the 79.0 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Capacity utilization in the manufacturing and mining sectors rose to 77.2 percent and 90.2 percent, respectively, while capacity utilization in the utilities sector dropped to 80.1 percent.