Largely reflecting a steep drop in mining output, the Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing a modest decrease in U.S. industrial production in the month of September.
The report said industrial production fell by 0.2 percent in September after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in August.
Economists had expected production to drop by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.
The modest decrease in production was primarily due to the steep drop in mining output, which tumbled by 2.0 percent in September after coming in unchanged in August.
The Fed said manufacturing output also edged down by 0.1 percent in September following a 0.4 percent decrease in August.
On the other hand, utilities output surged up by 1.3 percent in September, matching the jump seen in the previous month.
The report also said industrial capacity utilization fell 0.3 percentage points to 77.5 percent in September from a revised 77.8 percent in August. Capacity utilization had been expected to dip to 77.4 percent.
Capacity utilization in the manufacturing and mining sectors fell to 75.9 percent and 81.9 percent, respectively, while capacity utilization in the utilities sector climbed to 79.8 percent.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com