US industrial production edges past forecasts in August
Industrial production in the US edged pasts forecasts last month on the back of higher output from factories and utilities.
According to the Department of Commerce, total output increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.4% (consensus: 0.5%), pushing the annual rate of gain to 5.9%.
Industrial capacity in use meanwhile increased by two tenths of a percentage point from the month before to reach 76.4% (consensus: 76.3%).
Production in manufacturing was up by 0.2% on the month, following a gain of 0.6% in July, while in mining it fell 0.6% and that of utilities rebounded by 3.3% from the prior month's 4.0% drop.
"The sluggishness in manufacturing is broad-based—for once, the sector was not constrained by the problems in the auto sector, where August output was little changed—but the trend in non-auto output is still rising," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"The fundamentals for the sector remain very positive, given soaring demand for capital goods, but the monthly data are volatile and subject to revision."