U.S. Industrial Production Shows Modest Increase In January

(RTTNews) - Industrial production in the U.S. saw a modest increase in the month of January, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, with the uptick partly reflecting a significant rebound in utilities output.

The report said industrial production edged up by 0.2 percent in January after dipping by a revised 0.3 percent in December.

Economists had expected production to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.1 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The modest increase in production largely reflected the rebound in utilities output, which surged up by 2.3 percent in January after tumbling by 6.9 percent in December.

Manufacturing output also crept up by 0.2 percent in January after revised data showed a lack of growth in the previous month.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said manufacturing output was held back by a 0.6 percent drop in auto production.

"Otherwise, the 0.8% m/m increase in production of business equipment is an encouraging sign for Q1 business investment," Ashworth said.

On the other hand, the report said mining output slumped by 1.0 percent in January after jumping by 2.1 percent in December.

The Fed also said capacity utilization came in at 79.4 percent in January, unchanged from the revised figure for December.

Economists had expected the capacity utilization rate to edge up to 79.9 percent from the 79.7 originally reported for the previous month.

Capacity utilization in utilities sector climbed to 78.2 percent in January from 76.4 percent in December, while capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector inched up to 78.1 percent from 78.0.

Meanwhile, the report said capacity utilization in the mining sector fell to 87.5 percent in January from 88.5 percent in December.