US Industrial Production Down 0.1% In December

US industrial production declined 0.1% in December, coming much weaker than the market estimate, according to the Federal Reserve on Friday.

Industrial production, which measures the change in the value of output produced by manufacturers and utilities, was expected to rise 0.3% in December, according to market consensus. Its increase in November was revised up from 0.5% to 0.7%.

"Total industrial production in December was 3.7% higher than it was at the end of 2020 and 0.6% above its pre-pandemic February 2020 reading," the Fed said in a statement.

Manufacturing production decreased 0.3% in December. While market expectation was a 0.5% increase, the November increase was revised down from 0.7% to 0.6%.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged down 0.1 percentage point in December to 76.5%, the Fed said.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.2 percentage point in December to 77.0%, it added. -