Industrial production dropped 0.3% in January, the Federal Reserve reported Friday, with the cold weather knocking manufacturing output by 0.8% and mining output by 0.9%, which more than offset the 4.1% surge in utilities output on heating demand. The drop compared to a MarketWatch-compiled economist consensus for a 0.2% gain. In addition, the Fed knocked down its fourth-quarter estimate of manufacturing production to an annual rate of 4.6% from a previous estimate of 6.2%. Capacity utilization dropped to 78.5% from 78.9%. Also, the Fed made its first estimate of industrial capacity expansion for 2014, as it sees a 2.3% gain after a 1.8% rise in 2013.
Source: Marketwatch
Source: Marketwatch
