U.S. industrial output increases more than expected in November

The Federal Reserve reported on Tuesday that the U.S. industrial production rose 1.1 m-o-m in November, following a revised 0.9 percent m-o-m decline in October (originally a 0.8 percent m-o-m decrease). That marked the biggest jump in industrial output since October of 2017.

Economists had forecast industrial production would increase by 0.8 percent m-o-m in November.

According to the report, the November surge was largely due to a bounce-back in the output of motor vehicles and parts following the end of a strike at a major manufacturer, General Motors (GM). Excluding motor vehicles and parts, the indexes for total industrial production and for manufacturing rose up 0.5 percent m-o-m and 0.3 percent m-o-m, respectively. Meanwhile, mining production edged down 0.2 percent m-o-m, while the output of utilities climbed 2.9 percent m-o-m.

Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.7 percentage point m-o-m in November to 77.3 percent. That was 0.1 percentage point below economists’ forecast and 2.5 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2018) average.

In y-o-y terms, the industrial output dropped 0.8 percent in November, following an unrevised 1.1 percent fall in the prior month.