Overall industrial production expanded 0.4% for August, according to a Federal Reserve report (link opens as PDF) released today.
After staying steady for July and nudging up just 0.1% for May and June, analysts had been expecting a full 0.5% increase.
By major markets, groups are looking positive all around. Business equipment notched the largest lead at 0.9% growth, while materials added 0.4% and nonindustrial supplies edged up 0.1%.
Breaking production down by industries, mining increased 0.3% and utilities knocked 1.5% off their own production. Manufacturing made a comeback to 0.7% growth, a turnaround from July's 0.4% contraction and 0.2 percentage points ahead of analyst expectations.
Capacity didn't quite cut it, missing expectations for 77.9% utilization by 0.1 percentage points. Utilities continued to pull numbers down, with capacity dropping off to just 74.7% for August.
Source: Federal Reserve.
