Industrial Output Increases 0.4% in September

U.S. industrial output rose by more than expected in September, posting a sharp rebound from a downwardly revised drop the previous month, which had been held back because of hurricane impact on oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Industrial production rose by 0.4%, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% rise compared to a 1.4% decline in August.

This was initially reported as a 1.2% drop. Industrial production encompasses output from factories, utilities and mining operations, including oil and natural gas production. Manufacturing output rose by 0.2%, utilities output was up 1.5% and mining output advanced 0.9 percent in September.

Capacity utilization, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, was at 78.3 percent in September, matching forecasts, and was slightly higher than the 78.0% rate in August. This was previously estimated at 78.2%.