US industrial production up 1.1% in February

“Industrial production rose 1.1 percent in February following a decline of 0.3 percent in January”, reported the Federal Reserve on Friday.

Key points:

   •  Manufacturing production increased 1.2 percent in February, its largest gain since October.

   •  Mining output jumped 4.3 percent, mostly reflecting strong gains in oil and gas extraction. 

   •  The index for utilities fell 4.7 percent, as warmer-than-normal temperatures last month reduced the demand for heating.

   •  At 108.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in February was 4.4 percent higher than it was a year earlier. 

   •  Capacity utilization for the industrial sector climbed 0.7 percentage point in February to 78.1 percent, its highest reading since January 2015 but still 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.