U.S. Industrial Production Rises Less Than Expected In November

After reporting a much bigger than expected increase in U.S. industrial production in the previous month, the Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing that production rose by less than expected in the month of November.

The Fed said industrial production edged up by 0.2 percent in November after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in October.

Economists had expected production to climb by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The uptick in production came as mining output surged up by 2.0 percent in November after falling by 0.6 percent in October, as oil and gas extraction returned to normal levels after being held down in October by Hurricane Nate.

However, the rebound in mining output was largely offset by a pullback in utilities output, which plunged by 1.9 percent in November after spiking by 2.0 percent in October.

The Fed said total industrial production would have been unchanged in November excluding the post-hurricane rebound in oil and gas extraction.

Manufacturing output increased for the third consecutive month, rising by 0.2 percent in November after shooting up by 1.4 percent in the previous month.

The report also said capacity utilization inched up to 77.1 percent in November from an unrevised 77.0 percent in October.

Capacity utilization in the mining sector climbed to 84.5 percent and capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector crept up to 76.4 percent, while capacity utilization in the utilities sector dropped to 75.7 percent.