U.S. Industrial Production Unexpectedly Edges Lower In November

(RTTNews) - The Federal Reserve released a report on Tuesday unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by U.S. industrial production in the month of November.

The report said industrial production edged down by 0.1 percent in November after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in October.

Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.3 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected decrease by industrial production came as notable declines by mining and utilities output more than offset an uptick by manufacturing output.

The Fed said mining output slumped by 0.9 percent in November after edging down by 0.1 percent in October, while utilities output tumbled by 1.3 percent in November after jumping by 1.3 percent in October.

Meanwhile, the central bank said manufacturing output rose by 0.2 percent in November after sliding by 0.7 percent in the previous month.

"Industrial production fell for the third month in a row, bucking even our below-consensus forecast for a modest gain," said Bernard Yaros, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

"The latest numbers will lead to a downward revision to the near-term forecast for industrial production," he added. "We still see a rebound next year thanks to reduced policy uncertainty and interest-rate relief."

The report also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector slipped to 76.8 percent in November from a downwardly revised 77.0 percent in October.

Economists had expected capacity utilization to rise to 77.3 percent from the 77.1 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector inched up to 76.0 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining and utilities sectors fell to 88.8 percent and 70.0 percent, respectively.