Industrial Production Inches Up 0.1% In February

Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in February, the Federal Reserve said Monday. The increase was smaller than expected. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.3% rise. Details of the report were weak, especially the downward revision to output in January to negative 0.3% from the prior estimate of a 0.2% gain. In February, manufacturing output dropped 0.2%, the third straight monthly decline. Auto and auto part manufacturing fell 3%. Utilities output jumped 7.3% on cold weather in the month. Mining output dropped 2.5% on continued weakness in oil and gas well drilling. Capacity utilization held dipped to 78.9% from, 79.1%, well below the 79.6% consensus.