U.S. Industrial Production Climbs 0.3% In June, More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Partly reflecting a surge by utilities output, the Federal Reserve released a report on Wednesday showing industrial production in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of June.

The Fed said industrial production climbed by 0.3 percent in June, while revised data showed industrial production was unchanged in May.

Economists had expected industrial production to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.2 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected increase by industrial production came as utilities output shot up by 2.8 percent in June after tumbling by 2.5 percent in May.

Manufacturing output also crept up by 0.1 percent in June after rising by 0.3 percent in May, while mining output fell by 0.3 percent in June after inching up by 0.1 percent in May.

The Fed also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector ticked up to 77.6 in June from an upwardly revised 77.5 percent in May.

Economists had expected capacity utilization to come in unchanged compared to the 77.4 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Capacity utilization in the utilities sector climbed to 70.1 percent and capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector crept up to 76.9 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining sector fell to 90.6 percent.