U.S. industrial output falls more than expected in October

The Federal Reserve reported on Friday that the U.S. industrial production fell 0.8 m-o-m in October, following a revised 0.3 percent m-o-m decline in September (originally a 0.4 percent m-o-m decrease). That marked the steepest contraction in industrial output since May 2018.

Economists had forecast industrial production would reduce by 0.4 percent m-o-m in October.

According to the report, much of the October decline in industrial production was due to a 7.1 percent m-o-m tumble in the output of motor vehicles and parts that resulted from a strike at General Motors (GM), U.S. major manufacturer of motor vehicles. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, the overall index moved down 0.5 percent m-o-m, and the index for manufacturing edged down 0.1 percent m-o-m. Meanwhile, mining production dropped 0.7 percent m-o-m, and utilities output decreased 2.6 percent m-o-m.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.8 percentage point m-o-m in October to 76.7 percent. That was 0.4 percentage point below economists’ forecast and 3.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2018) average.

In y-o-y terms, the industrial output dropped 1.1 percent in October, following an unrevised 0.1 percent fall in the prior month.