Unusually high temperatures last month prompted a sharp decline in the need for heating, which dragged down overall US industrial output in January, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
The decline in output for utilities, “largely because of unseasonably warm weather,” also impacted other sectors, as did the reduced production of automotive products, including vehicles and parts, the report said.
The Industrial Production index fell 0.3 percent in January compared to December, reversing half of the previous month’s increase. Analysts forecast no change in output.
The utilities sector plunged 5.7 percent, erasing all of the December gain. But mining increased 2.8 percent, boosted by an 8.5 percent increase in oil and gas drilling.
But manufacturing showed only a modest 0.2 percent increase in output. A 2.9 percent fall in production of vehicles and parts offset gains in other areas of manufacturing, such as machinery, textiles, petroleum and coal.
Production of consumer goods fell 0.8 percent while construction materials were up 0.9 percent.
Industrial capacity in use during the latest month slipped slightly to 75.3 percent from 75.5 percent in December.
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