September's Industrial Production Rate Rose 0.3%

Washington, DC, October 16, 2018-Industrial production increased 0.3% in September, about the same rate of change as in the previous two months, according to the Federal Reserve. 

Output growth in September was held down slightly by Hurricane Florence, with an estimated effect of less than 0.1 percentage point. 

For the third quarter as a whole, total industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 3.3%. In September, manufacturing output moved up 0.2% for its fourth consecutive monthly increase, while the output of utilities was unchanged. The index for mining increased 0.5% and has moved up in each of the past eight months. At 108.5 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 5.1% higher in September than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged at 78.1%, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.