Industrial production decreased 1.1% in May after having fallen a downward-revised 0.7% in April, according to the Federal Reserve. The average decrease in industrial production during the first three months of the year was 1.6%.

Manufacturing output moved down 1.0% in May with broad-based declines across industries. Outside of manufacturing, the output of mines dropped 2.1%, and the output of utilities fell 1.4%.

At 95.8% of its 2002 average, overall industrial output in May was 13.4% below its year-earlier level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry declined further in May to 68.3%, a level 12.6 percentage points below its average for 1972-2008. Prior to the current recession, the low over the history of this series, which begins in 1967, was 70.9% in December …