U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DOWN 0.1%
U.S. FRB - Industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in March after edging up 0.1 percent in February; for the first quarter as a whole, the index slipped 0.3 percent at an annual rate. Manufacturing production was unchanged in March after declining in both January and February. The index for utilities rose 0.2 percent, while mining output moved down 0.8 percent. At 110.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 2.8 percent higher in March than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.2 percentage point in March to 78.8 percent, a rate that is 1.0 percentage point below its long-run (1972–2018) average.
Market Groups
The major market groups recorded mixed results in March. Gains for nondurable consumer goods, business equipment, defense and space equipment, and construction supplies were slightly more than offset by losses for other market groups. The largest decline was recorded by consumer durables; the indexes for all of its major categories fell, with the biggest decrease posted by automotive products.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output was unchanged in March and moved down at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter. The output of durables edged down in March. Losses of more than 2 percent were registered by wood products and by motor vehicles and parts, while gains of more than 1 percent were registered by primary metals and by computer and electronic products. The production of nondurables inched up as a result of increases in the indexes for textile and product mills, for petroleum and coal products, and for chemicals. The index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) edged down, remaining well below its year-earlier level.
The output of utilities rose 0.2 percent in March; the output of natural gas utilities climbed nearly 4 percent, while the output of electric utilities stepped down. Mining output declined 0.8 percent but remained 10.5 percent above its level of a year earlier.
Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged down 0.1 percentage point in March to 76.4 percent, about 2 percentage points below its long-run average. The utilization rate for durable manufacturing declined, while capacity utilization rates for nondurable manufacturing and for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) were unchanged. Capacity utilization for mining decreased to 90.9 percent but was still above its long-run average of 87.1 percent. The utilization rate for utilities was unchanged at 79.9 percent and remained 5 1/2 percentage points below its long-run average.
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