US manufacturing output increased 0.2% in August, beating market expectations for a 0.2% decrease after a 0.2% fall in July. The durable manufacturing index increased 0.2% after increasing 0.3% in July. Among the largest durables indexes by weight, motor vehicles and parts posted a 2.6% increase in August while fabricated metal products and machinery both posted declines. The nondurable manufacturing index increased 0.3% in August after dropping 0.5% in July. Among nondurables, the largest gains in August were posted by textile and product mills (2.5%) and by petroleum and coal products (1.6%), while the largest decline was posted by plastics and rubber products (0.7%). The indexes for chemicals and for food, beverage, and tobacco products—the largest nondurable goods industry groups by weight—posted gains of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Capacity utilization for manufacturing ticked up 0.1 pp in August to 76.8%, a rate that is 1.4 pp below its long-run (1972–2024) average.