Industrial Production Rose 0.9% in December, Up 8.2% in Q4

Washington, DC, January 17, 2018-Industrial production rose 0.9% in December even though manufacturing output only edged up 0.1%, according to the Federal Reserve.

Revisions to mining and utilities altered the pattern of growth for October and November, but the level of the overall index in November was little changed.

For the fourth quarter as a whole, total industrial production jumped 8.2% at an annual rate after being held down in the third quarter by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. At 107.5% of its 2012 average, the index has increased 3.6% since December 2016 for its largest calendar-year gain since 2010.

The gain in manufacturing output in December was its fourth consecutive monthly increase. The output of utilities advanced 5.6% for the month, while the index for mining moved up 1.6%. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was 77.9%, a rate that is 2.0 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.