Manufacturing workers at the LCI Industries glass components plant in Elkhart, Indiana. (Photo: AP)
U.S. industrial production came in at a strong 0.9% in December juxtaposed to the consensus forecast of 0.4%, while the Federal Reserve revised November down to -0.1%. The resurgence of the U.S. mining industry has been the story in this report for all of 2017.
It’s up 11.5% for the year and has been growing in significant jumps on a monthly basis, including a 1.6% surge in December.
However, manufacturing has notably slowed down, adding a modest 2.4% gain all year. Still, manufacturing production rose at a 7.0% rate in the fourth quarter (4Q).
Utilities production increased by a solid 5.6% last month after falling 3.1% in November and motor vehicle and parts production gained 2.0%.
With last month, capacity utilization — which is a measure of how fully industries are deploying their resources — increased to 77.9% in December from 77.2% in November.
