U.S industrial production was unchanged in April following a slight decline in March, while factory output flipped to a decline after a solid March gain.

The Federal Reserve’s latest Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report, issued on May 15, showed total industrial production was unchanged in April month-over-month. Production decreased 0.3% in March and increased 0.8% in February.

Total April production was impacted by an increase in utilities output, partially offset by a decrease in manufacturing and mining of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. The manufacturing slide followed a March increase of 0.4%.

Economists polled by Reuters expected a monthly factory output decrease of 0.2%.

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At 103.9% of its 2017 average, total industrial production increased 1.5% year-over-year. Capacity utilization moved down to 77.7%, which was 1.9-percentage-points below its long-run (1972-2024) average.

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

source: tradingeconomics.com

Market Groups

Most market groups saw mixed results in April. Among the index for consumer goods, the production of durables saw a decrease of 1.3%, with decreases in all major categories. The production of nondurables saw an increase of 0.1%, held down by a decline of 0.9% in non-energy goods which was outweighed by a 3.2% increase in energy goods.

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Business equipment showed a modest increase of 0.2% in April.

Industry Groups

Within April’s 0.4% monthly decline in manufacturing output, nondurable manufacturing decreased 0.6%, with most categories posting declines. Likewise, the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) saw a decline of 2.0%.

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Mining output decreased 0.3% in April month-over-month, while utilities increased 3.3%, as output of both electric and natural gas utilities increased.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.4-points in April to 76.8%.