Industrial production declined 0.4 percent in December, a third consecutive monthly decline. Total industrial production is now 1.8 percent below the year ago level.
Manufacturing output slipped by 0.1 percent in December, amid a decline in nondurable goods production. Despite monthly declines for four of the last five months, factory output is 0.8 percent higher than a year ago.
Mining output fell 0.8 percent in December, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Much of the decrease was due to a large drop in coal mining. Mining output is now 11.2 percent below year ago levels.
Capacity utilization slipped 76.5 percent, down 40 basis points from November and 3.6 percentage points below its long-run average.
Read the Federal Reserve release.
