Industrial production edged down 0.3% in October after declining 0.5% in August according to the Federal Reserve. The index for mining rose 0.3%, while the index for utilities grew 0.7%. Total industrial production in October fell 0.3% at its year-earlier level to 102.3% of its 2017 average. Capacity utilization moved down to 77.1% in October, a rate that is 2.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2023) average. The Federal Reserve Bank also outlined that the strike at a major civilian aircraft producer and the lingering effects of Hurricanes Milton and Helene held down industrial production.
The major market groups posted mixed results in October. The output of consumer goods was little changed. Among consumer goods, the production of durables decreased 1.4 percent, while the index for nondurables increased 0.4 percent, with growth in the indexes for both nondurable energy and nondurable non-energy goods. The output of business equipment fell 2.7 percent in October following a 3.5 percent decline in September. As in September, the October decline was led by a sharp drop in the production of transit equipment, largely due to the work stoppage in civilian aircraft.
Manufacturing output declined 0.5 percent in October and was 0.3 percent below its year-earlier level. The index of durable goods industries fell 1.2 percent, with widespread declines among its components. In addition to a drop of 5.8 percent in the output of aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, declines of 1 percent or more were recorded for primary metals, for motor vehicles and parts, and for furniture and related products. The production of nondurable goods inched up, as gains in the indexes of chemicals, of paper, and of petroleum and coal products offset declines in the indexes of textile mills, of apparel and leather, of printing and support, and of plastics and rubber products.
Mining output increased 0.3 percent in October, as a decline in coal mining was more than offset by a partial rebound in oil and gas extraction following hurricane-induced declines in September. The output of utilities rose 0.7 percent in October, as an increase in electric utilities was partially offset by a decrease in natural gas utilities.
Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.5 percentage point in October to 76.2 percent, a rate that is 2.1 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining rose 0.3 percentage point to 88.7 percent, while the operating rate for utilities rose 0.3 percentage point to 71.4 percent. The rate for mining was 2.2 percentage points above its long-run average, while the rate for utilities remained substantially below its long-run average.
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