Industrial production fell 0.4% in May after rising 0.6% in April, according to the Federal Reserve. The decrease was largely due to declines in the manufacturing and utilities index, which were partly offset by a small gain in mining. Over the last 12 months, industrial production fell 1.4%.
Mining output rose 0.2% after eight consecutive months of declines. The mining increase was due to a rebound in coal mining for the month of May. Oil and gas extraction were largely unchanged for the month.
The utilities index fell 0.1%, as an increase in electrical output was partially offset by a gain in natural gas utilities.
Manufacturing fell 0.4%, in large part due to a 0.7% decline in the production of durable goods. Nondurable goods production was little changed during the month.
Capacity utilization fell to 74.9%, down 40 basis points from the previous month, but up 0.8% from a year ago.
Read the Fed release.
