U.S. Industrial Production Rebounds Slightly More Than Expected

After reporting a notable decrease in U.S. industrial production in the previous month, the Federal Reserve released a report on Tuesday showing production rebounded by slightly more than expected in the month of September.

The report said production rose by 0.3 percent in September after sliding by 0.7 percent in August. Economists had expected production to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.9 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The Fed said the continued effects of Hurricane Harvey and, to a lesser degree, the effects of Hurricane Irma held down production growth by a quarter of a percentage point in September.

The bigger than expected increase in production was partly due to a significant rebound in utilities output, which surged up by 1.5 percent in September after plunging by 4.9 percent in August.

Mining output also climbed by 0.4 percent in September after slipping by 0.2 percent in August, while manufacturing output inched up by 0.1 percent following a 0.2 percent dip in the previous month.

Industrial production in the third quarter as a whole fell by 1.5 percent, although the Fed said production would have risen by at least 0.5 percent excluding the effects of the hurricanes.

The report also said capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged up to 76.0 august in September from a revised 75.8 percent in August.

Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector was unchanged at 75.1 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining sector inched up to 83.5 percent and capacity utilization in the utilities sector rose to 74.8 percent.