Industrial production decreased 0.6 percent in November after decreasing 0.4 percent in October, according to the Federal Reserve. Manufacturing output was unchanged, while the index for mining fell 1.1 percent and the index for utilities dropped 4.3 percent.
At 106.5 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in November was 1.2 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector declined 0.5 percentage points in November to 77 percent, a rate that is 3.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2014) average.
Consumer goods production decreased 0.5 percent in November. The index for consumer durables dropped 0.2 percent, while the index for consumer nondurables moved down 0.6 percent. Within consumer nondurables, a large drop in energy products outweighed a small gain in non-energy products.
The indexes for defense and space equipment and for construction supplies each declined 0.2 percent, while the output of business supplies moved down 0.7 percent. The index for materials fell 0.8 percent, as decreases for durable materials and energy materials were partly offset by a gain for nondurable materials.
Manufacturing output was unchanged in November, as the output of nondurable goods gained 0.5 percent, but the production of durable goods declined 0.2 percent and the index for other manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) moved down 1.7 percent.
The capacity utilization rate for manufacturing edged down to 76.2 percent, a rate 2.3 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for durable goods manufacturing moved down 0.3 percentage point, while the operating rate for nondurable goods manufacturing moved up 0.4 percentage point. Utilization for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) decreased 0.9 percentage point. The operating rate for mines dropped 1.1 percentage points to 79.4 percent, while capacity utilization for utilities fell 3.4 percentage points to 74.5 percent.
"U.S. manufacturers have faced numerous challenges in 2015, including a much stronger dollar, heightened uncertainty about slowing economic growth in China, and the dramatic fall in the prices of oil and natural gas—a decline that has proven to be a two-edged sword," said Donald Norman, director of economic studies at the MAPI Foundation. "Given these challenges, the fact that manufacturing production is up even mildly is a positive sign."
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