U.S. Industrial Production Climbs More Than Expected In April

Industrial production in the U.S. increased by much more than anticipated in the month of April, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday.

The report said industrial production jumped by 1.0 percent in April after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in March. Production rose for the third consecutive month and saw its largest monthly gain since February of 2014.

Economists had expected production to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected increase in production was partly due to a rebound in manufacturing output, which surged up by 1.0 percent in April after falling by 0.4 percent in March.

The Fed said the rebound in manufacturing output was the result of widespread increases among its major industries.

Mining output also shot up by 1.2 percent in April after sliding by 0.4 percent in March, while utilities output rose by 0.7 percent after spiking by 8.2 percent in the previous month.

The report also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector climbed to 76.7 percent in April from 76.1 percent in March. Economists had expected capacity utilization to rise to 76.3 percent.

Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector increased to 75.9 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining and utilities sectors rose to 83.3 percent and 76.3 percent, respectively.