Washington, DC, May 17--Industrial production fell 0.2 percent in April after an increase of 0.1 percent in March.
Revisions altered the previously published pattern of output for January through March, but industrial output in the first quarter is still reported to have risen at an annual rate of 3.6 percent.
In April, the output indexes for manufacturing and mining were unchanged, and the output of utilities dropped 2.3 percent. At 118.3 percent of the 1997 average, overall industrial output was 3.1 percent above its April 2004 level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry fell 0.2 percentage point, to 79.2 percent, a rate 1.8 percentage points below its 1972-2004 average.
