Total industrial production remained flat in February, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monthly report released March 17. The figure, which was down 0.2% year-over-year, follows a 0.3% increase in January.
Manufacturing output saw an unexpected increase of 0.1% in February. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast manufacturing output to decline 0.3% and for total output to increase 0.2%.
Capacity utilization — which reflects limits to operations in U.S. factories, mines and utilities — also stayed flat at 78% in February. The capacity utilization index increased slightly from 79.9% to 78% in January.
The index for mining fell 0.6% in February while the index for utilities increased 0.5%, according to the Federal Reserve. Oil and gas well drilling dropped 3.1%.
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