WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Federal Reserve on Friday showed a modest decrease by U.S. industrial production in the month of July.
The Fed said industrial production edged down by 0.1 percent in July after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in June.
Economists had expected industrial production to come in unchanged compared to the 0.3 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The dip by industrial production came as mining output decreased by 0.4 percent in July after falling by 0.3 percent in July, and utilities output dipped by 0.2 percent in August after surging by 1.8 percent in July.
Meanwhile, the report manufacturing output came in unchanged in August after rising by 0.3 percent in the previous month.
'The details behind the headline number in July weren't surprising,' said Bernard Yaros, Lead US Economist at Oxford Economics. 'Low oil prices are weighing on mining activity, while there was some payback in utilities after the prior month's strength. Manufacturing was flat, in line with earlier uninspiring data on hours worked in the sector.'
The Fed also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector slipped to 77.5 percent in July from an upwardly revised 77.7 percent in June.
Economists had expected capacity utilization to edge down to 77.5 percent from the 77.6 percent originally reported for the previous month.
Capacity utilization in the mining sector decreased to 90.3 percent, while capacity utilization in the utilities sector fell to 70.0 percent and capacity utilization in the mining sector dipped to 76.8 percent.
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