Industrial Production Rose 0.7% in April

Washington, DC, May 16, 2018-Industrial production rose 0.7% in April for its third consecutive monthly increase, according to the Federal Reserve.

The rates of change for industrial production for previous months were revised downward, on net; for the first quarter, output is now reported to have advanced 2.3% at an annual rate. After being unchanged in March, manufacturing output rose 0.5% in April. The indexes for mining and utilities moved up 1.1% and 1.9%, respectively. At 107.3% of its 2012 average, total industrial production in April was 3.5% higher than it was a year earlier.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector climbed 0.4 percentage point in April to 78.0%, a rate that is 1.8 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.