The Federal Reserve reported on Friday that U.S. industrial production rose by 0.7% in September, surpassing economists' expectations of a 0.4% increase. This follows a revised increase of 0.1% in August.
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A significant factor in the rise was a 3.5% surge in utilities output for September, building on a 1.5% gain in August. Manufacturing output also improved by 0.3% in September after a 0.2% decline the previous month, while mining output saw a slight increase of 0.2% after a 0.5% rise in August.
Additionally, the report indicated that capacity utilization in the industrial sector rose to 76.9% in September, up from an upwardly revised 76.4% in August. This figure was higher than the 76.5% that economists had predicted, given a previous estimate of 76.3%. In specific sectors, capacity utilization for utilities reached 73.8%, while mining utilization increased to 87.5% and manufacturing utilization rose to 75.9%.