U.S Industrial Production decreased in July following a June improvement, while factory output was flat after rising in June and May

The Federal Reserve’s latest Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report, issued on Aug. 15, showed total industrial production declined 0.1% in July month-over-month.

That fell short of a flat reading forecasted by economists polled from national media outlets.

MDM’s 2Q25 MarketPulse Report (store link) 

June’s monthly figure was revised up to a 0.4% increase from an initial estimate of +0.3%.

Total July production was impacted by a decline in mining of 0.4%, which followed followed a 0.3% slide in June. Utilities likewise declined by 0.2% in July after a 1.8% jump in June. Manufacturing was unchanged month-over-month following gains of 0.3% and 0.2% in June and May, respectively. Year-over-year, manufacturing output increased 1.4%.

At 104.0% of its 2017 average, total industrial production increased 1.4% year-over-year. Capacity utilization moved down 77.5% in July which was 2.1-percentage-points below its long-run (1972-2024) average.

U.S. Total Industrial Production Index – Month-Over-Month

source: tradingeconomics.com

Market Groups

Major market groups posted mixed results in July. Among the index for consumer goods (+0.1%), the production of automotive products edged up 0.7%, while the index for appliances, furniture and carpeting declined 1.5%. Nondurables posted an increase of 0.1% led by increases in the index for chemical products and nondurable energy consumer goods.

The index for business equipment increased 0.5%, while defense and space equipment likewise increased 0.6%. Meanwhile, Business supplies and construction declined 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Industry Groups

Within the manufacturing index, the output for durable goods increased 0.3% during July. Within durable goods, the subindexes for electrical equipment, appliances and components, for aerospace, miscellaneous transportation equipment, for furniture and related products and for other miscellaneous manufacturing each rose 1.0% or more in July, while the subindexes for primary metals, machinery and motor vehicles and parts each declined 0.3%. Nondurable production fell 0.4% during July, with declines in all nondurable categories. Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged down 0.1% during July to 76.8%, which is 1.4 percentage points below its long-run average.

Mining output decreased 0.4% in July month-over-month but was up 1.9% year-over-year. Utilities decreased 0.2% during July, with a decline in electric utilities output of 0.3% more than offsetting a 0.5% increase in the output of natural gas utilities.