US Industrial Production Fell 0.3% in December
17 January 2020 - 2:45PM
Dow Jones News
By David Harrison and Paul Kiernan
WASHINGTON--U.S. industrial production decreased in December, as
a sharp drop in utilities output offset a slight gain in factory
production.
Industrial production, a measure of factory, mining and utility
output, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in December from the prior
month, the Federal Reserve said Friday, in line with expectations
of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
Manufacturing output, the biggest component of industrial
production, increased 0.2% in December from the previous month. But
that gain was countered by a 5.6% decline in utilities output
because of lower demand for heating due to unseasonably warm
December weather, the Fed said.
The drop in overall industrial production came during a month
when U.S. and China officials agreed to the first phase of a trade
deal, a truce in a dispute that weighed on the global manufacturing
sector for much of 2019. U.S. industrial production was down 1% in
December from a year earlier.
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, industrial production
advanced 0.6% in December from November. Meanwhile, mining
production increased 1.3%.
Capacity utilization, which reflects how much industries are
producing compared to what they could potentially produce,
decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 77% in December, matching
economists' expectations.
November's industrial production was revised down to a 0.8%
rise, compared to an earlier estimate of a 1.1% increase.
Friday's report comes amid signs that U.S. factories are heading
into 2020 on uneven footing. The Institute for Supply Management
reported earlier this month that manufacturing activity contracted
in December for the fifth straight month, while data firm IHS
Markit also said factory activity slowed last month.
Still, the U.S. and China on Wednesday signed the phase one
trade agreement, which includes commitments by Beijing to step up
purchases of U.S. manufactured goods by around $80 billion, a
development that could bode well for factory output this year.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 17, 2020 09:30 ET (14:30 GMT)
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