U.S. industrial production decreased in September following a sharp increase in August.

The Federal Reserve’s latest Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Report showed that production decreased 0.3% in September month-to-month, exceeding the market expectation of a 0.2% decrease by economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal.

The fed cited the ongoing machinists’ strike at Boeing curtailing total IP growth by an estimated 0.3% in September (noted as “a major producer of civilian aircraft”), while the effects of two hurricanes subtracted another 0.3%. Those hurricanes weren’t named, but Helene struck in late September while Debby hit in early August.

At 102.6% of its 2017 average, total industrial production in September remained the same year-over-year. Capacity utilization moved down 77.5%, which is down 2.2 percentage points year-over-year.

Total September production was impacted by a decrease of 0.4% in manufacturing, 0.6% in mining and 0.4% in utilities.

source: tradingeconomics.com

Market Groups

Major market groups saw mixed results in September. The index for consumer goods decreased 0.7% month-to-month, driven by a 1.7% increase in energy goods. The index for materials saw a 0.2% decrease in September.

Business equipment showed a negative decline with a 3.5% decrease in September. While transit equipment saw a sharp drop of 14.2%, largely due to the work stoppage in civilian aircraft.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output decreased 0.4% in September month-to-month and was 0.5% below its year-earlier-level. Nondurable manufacturing saw a 0.2% monthly increase, while durable manufacturing decreased 0.1%.

Specific industries such as aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment (-8.3%) saw a drastic decrease in the month of September, in part due to the Boeing strikes.

Mining output decreased 0.6% in September, and utilities output increased 0.7% year-over-year. The effects of two hurricanes impacted oil and gas extraction, which more than offset gains elsewhere.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 76.7% in September.