Industrial production in the U.S. decreased 0.5 percent in February after increasing 0.8 percent in January, according to the Federal Reserve. Sizable declines in the indexes for both utilities and mining in February outweighed a gain of 0.2 percent for manufacturing.
The output of utilities dropped 4 percent, as unseasonably warm weather curbed the demand for heating. Mining production fell 1.4 percent and has decreased nearly 1.3 percent per month, on average, over the past six months.
At 106.3 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in February was 1 percent below its year-earlier level.
Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.4 percentage point in February to 76.7 percent, a rate that is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2015) average.
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