--US June industrial output -0.7%; manufacturing -0.8%
--US June factory output ex-motor vehicles -0.7%; motor output -2.1%
--US June high-tech output -1.6%, factory output ex-high tech -0.7%
--US capacity use: June 77.0%; May revised to 77.6 from 77.4%
--US June capacity use lowest since August 1983
--US June utilities output +0.9%, mining -0.4%
--US June business equipment output -1.4%; materials -0.9%
--US June consumer goods output -0.2%; construction supplies -0.7%
--US May industrial output revised to -0.5% from -0.8%

Washington, July 17 (BridgeNews) - U.S. industrial output contracted for the ninth successive month in June, falling 0.7%, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday. The decline in activity, led by an anemic factory sector, was worse than the 0.5% drop expected by analysts and resulted in a capacity utilization rate of 77.0%, the lowest since August 1983.
The June decline, which follows a revised 0.5% decrease in May, will underscore calls for the Fed to cut interest rates again when officials next meet in August. The Fed has already reduced rates by 2.75 percentage points since the start of the year.
The industrial sector has struggled for months under the strain of a strong dollar, high energy prices, expensive financing costs and the need to balance bloated supplies with falling demand at home and abroad. Output over the past year has now fallen 3.6%, and firms have begun to lay off workers in large quantities, with 113,000 factory workers having lost their jobs in June and the workweek shrinking.
A 0.8% drop in manufacturing production led the overall sag in industry activity. Output of durable goods--items designed to last 3 years or longer--was down 1.2%. Production of non-durable goods fell 0.3%. Within the factory sector, auto manufacturers curbed their output as well, as production of motor vehicles and parts fell 2.1%. Producers slowed assemblies to an annual rate of 11.71 million units during the month, from 11.84 million in May.
Excluding vehicle production, factory output was down 0.7%.