Output from US factories, mines and utilities rose in December for the first time since August as both output and utilization in the prior month were revised lower, the Federal Reserve said today.
Output in December rose 0.4 pct, while factories were using 81.8 pct of their capacity, slightly higher than November's downwardly revised 81.6 pct. Output in November was revised lower to a 0.1 pct decline, compared with a 0.2 pct rise previously estimated.
Economists had expected output to increase just 0.1 pct in December while predicting capacity to remain at 81.8 pct. The Federal Reserve keeps a close watch on the operating rate to see if it is approaching levels where bottlenecks could develop and threaten to boost inflationary pressures.
For all of 2006, industrial production has risen 3.0 pct and capacity utilization has risen 0.5 percentage points. Capacity utilization is now at a level 0.8 percentage points above the average of the past 30 years. Manufacturing production rose 0.7 pct in December, while mining output rose 0.8 pct and utility output fell 2.6 pct in the month.