U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION UP 0.3%

U.S. FRB - Industrial production increased 0.3 percent in September, about the same rate of change as in the previous two months. Output growth in September was held down slightly by Hurricane Florence, with an estimated effect of less than 0.1 percentage point. For the third quarter as a whole, total industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 3.3 percent. In September, manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent for its fourth consecutive monthly increase, while the output of utilities was unchanged. The index for mining increased 0.5 percent and has moved up in each of the past eight months. At 108.5 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 5.1 percent higher in September than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged at 78.1 percent, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.

Market Groups

Production for most major market groups rose in September. The index for consumer goods moved up 0.2 percent, as increases in durables and in energy products were only partly offset by a decrease in non-energy nondurables. The indexes for business equipment and for defense and space equipment each advanced 0.8 percent; both categories posted sizable gains for the third quarter.

Among nonindustrial supplies, the index for construction supplies decreased in September, but the index for business supplies increased after declining in the previous two months. The output of industrial materials moved up 0.2 percent—its eighth straight monthly increase—as gains for energy and durable materials outweighed a loss in nondurable materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent in September. Factory output advanced 2.8 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, a slightly faster gain than in the second quarter. In September, the indexes for durables and for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) rose, while the index for nondurables edged down. Production rose for most major categories within durable manufacturing. The largest increases were posted by motor vehicles and parts, wood products, and primary metals, while the only sizable decline was recorded by nonmetallic mineral products. Among nondurables, results were mixed, as the indexes for textile and product mills and for apparel and leather fell nearly 2 percent, but the indexes for printing and support and for petroleum and coal products rose about 1 percent.

Mining output increased 0.5 percent in September. The index has advanced about 24 percent from its trough in 2016, supported by gains in the oil and gas sector. The index for utilities was unchanged in September, as a decline in electric utilities offset an increase in natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged up in September to 75.9 percent but was still 2.4 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rates for durables and for other manufacturing increased, but the rate for nondurables decreased. The utilization rate for mining edged down to 92.1 percent but remained well above its long-run average. The utilization rate for utilities moved down to 77.7 percent and remained more than 7 percentage points below its long-run average.

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