July Industrial Production Edged Up

Washington, DC, August 15, 2018-Industrial production edged up 0.1% in July after rising at an average pace of 0.5% over the previous five months, according to the Federal Reserve.

Manufacturing production increased 0.3%, the output of utilities moved down 0.5%, and, after posting five consecutive months of growth, the index for mining declined 0.3%.

At 108.0% of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 4.2% higher in July than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged in July at 78.1%, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.