US industrial production flat in February

According to the data from US Commerce Department, the country’s industrial production was flat in February after a drop of a revised 0.1% in January and missed the expectations of an increase of 0.2%.

The data showed that the increases in mining and manufacturing output were offset by a sharp fall in utilities output. Accordingly, mining and manufacturing output increased by 2.7% and 0.5% respectively while utilities output dropped further in February by 5.7% after a revised decline of 5.8% in the previous month due to the warm weather reducing the demand for heating.

The data also showed that the capacity utilization was down to 75.4% in February from 75.5% in January and stood slightly below the expectation of 75.5%. Capacity utilization in mining and manufacturing sector was up to 80.5% and 75.6% respectively while it decreased to 70.9% in the utilization sector.