WASHINGTON – US industrial production fell 0.3 percent in January as unseasonably warm weather held down the output of utilities and Boeing Co. cut production of civilian aircraft, the Federal Reserve said on Friday.
The Fed said manufacturing production fell 0.1 percent in January, matching forecasts, but December’s manufacturing output was revised lower to a 0.1 percent gain from a previously reported 0.2 percent gain.
Overall industrial output for December was revised downward to a 0.4 percent reduction from a previously reported 0.3 percent drop.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial output would fall 0.2 percent in January, with manufacturing output forecast to be down 0.1 percent. On an annualized basis, production at factories fell 0.8 percent in January, mirroring the annualized drop in overall industrial production.
Production of aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment fell 7.4 percent in January after a 0.5 percent increase in December, the Fed said. ]The drop reflects Boeing’s January halt in production of its grounded 737 MAX aircraft.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that the Boeing 737 halt could cut US gross domestic product growth by as much as a half percentage point this year.
The was somewhat offset by a rise in vehicle assemblies to 11.29 million units on an annualized basis. Manufacturing output excluding motor vehicles and parts fell 0.3 percent in January.
Capacity usage at factories, mines and utilities fell to 76.8 percent, the lowest since September 2017, from 77.1 percent in December.
US utility production fell 4.0 percent in January after a 6.2 percent drop in December, while output at mines rose 1.2 percent in January after a 1.5 percent increase in December. –Reuters
