U.S. Industrial Production Rose for Third Straight Month in July
August 14 2020 - 10:04AM
Dow Jones News
By David Harrison
U.S. industrial production increased in July for the third month
in a row, as the economy continues its slow recovery.
Industrial production--a measure of output at factories, mines
and utilities--rose a seasonally adjusted 3% in July from June, the
Federal Reserve said Friday, following a revised 5.7% rise in June.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 2.8%
increase in July.
Despite the gains, production was 8.2% below its level a year
earlier.
Manufacturing, the biggest component of production, rose 3.4%,
driven by a 28.3% increase in car and car parts industries.
Production by utilities was up 3.3%, due to an increased use of
air condition because of unusually warm weather. Mining increased
0.8%.
Capacity utilization, a measure of slack in the industrial
economy, rose to 70.6% in July from a revised 68.5% in June, the
Fed said. Economists had expected capacity utilization to reach
70.2%.
Earlier this month, two surveys of purchasing managers also
indicated manufacturing activity was slowly expanding, following a
sharp decline in the spring when lockdowns to prevent the spread of
the coronavirus pandemic shut down factories and disrupted supply
chains.
Write to David Harrison at david.harrison@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 14, 2020 09:49 ET (13:49 GMT)
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