Industrial Production Rose 0.9% in October

Washington, DC, November 16, 2017-Industrial production rose 0.9% in October, and manufacturing increased 1.3%. The index for utilities rose 2.0%, but mining output fell 1.3%, as Hurricane Nate caused a sharp but short-lived decline in oil and gas drilling and extraction.

Even so, industrial activity was boosted in October by a return to normal operations after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma suppressed production in August and September. Excluding the effects of the hurricanes, the index for total output advanced about 0.3% in October, and the index for manufacturing advanced about 0.2%.

With modest upward revisions for July through September, industrial production is now estimated to have only edged down 0.3% at an annual rate in the third quarter; the previously published estimate showed a decrease of 1.5%.

Total industrial production has risen 2.9% over the past 12 months; output in October was 106.1% of its 2012 average. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was 77.0%, a rate that is 2.9 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.