U.S. industrial output falls more than forecast in September

The Federal Reserve reported on Thursday that the U.S. industrial production fell 0.4 m-o-m in September, following a revised 0.8 percent m-o-m advance in August (originally a 0.6 percent m-o-m increase).

Economists had forecast industrial production would edge down 0.1 percent m-o-m in September.

According to the report, the manufacturing production decreased 0.5 percent m-o-m, due to a strike at General Motors (GM), U.S. major manufacturer of motor vehicles. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, the overall index and the manufacturing index each declined 0.2 percent m-o-m. Meanwhile, mining production dropped 1.3 percent m-o-m, while utilities output grew 1.4 percent m-o-m.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.4 percentage point m-o-m in September to 77.5 percent. That was 0.2 percentage point below economists’ forecast and 2.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2018) average.

In y-o-y terms, the industrial output dropped 0.1 percent in September, following an unrevised 0.4 percent gain in the prior month.

For the third quarter, industrial production increased 1.2 percent y-o-y, following declines of about 2 percent y-o-y in both the first and the second quarters.