U.S Industrial Production climbed 0.1% during August following a 0.4% decrease in July as manufacturing output likewise rebounded.

The Federal Reserve’s latest Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report, issued on Sept. 15, showed that production of motor vehicles and parts increased 2.6% in August, while factory output elsewhere edged up 0.1%.

The index for mining moved up 0.9%, and the index for utilities decreased 2.0%.

At 103.9% of its 2017 average, total industrial production in August was 0.9% above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization maintained the same rate of 77.4% in August, a rate that is 2.2 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2024) average.

Source: tradingeconomics.com

Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in August. The index of consumer durables gained 0.6%, largely driven by a 1.3% increase in automotive products, while the index of consumer nondurables rose 0.3% with gains in nearly all of its categories.

The index for business equipment edged down 0.1%, as a 1.2% decline in the output of industrial and other equipment more than offset a 2.1% gain in the output of transit equipment and a 0.7% gain in the output of information processing equipment. The index for construction supplies rose 0.6%, while the index for business supplies fell 0.4%. The index for materials edged up 0.1%.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.2% in August and was 0.9% above its year-earlier level. In August, the durable manufacturing index increased 0.2% after increasing 0.3% in July.

Among the largest durables indexes by weight, motor vehicles and parts posted a 2.6% increase in August while fabricated metal products and machinery both posted declines.

The nondurable manufacturing index increased 0.3% in August after dropping 0.5% in July. Among nondurables, the largest gains in August were posted by textile and product mills (2.5%) and by petroleum and coal products (1.6%), while the largest decline was posted by plastics and rubber products (0.7%). The indexes for chemicals and for food, beverage, and tobacco products—the largest nondurable goods industry groups by weight—posted gains of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Mining output grew 0.9% in August after falling 1.5% in July. In August, the index for utilities decreased 2.0%, as a 2.3% decline in the output of electric utilities more than offset a 0.2% increase in the output of natural gas utilities.