U.S. Industrial Production Pauses

ByJohn S. McClenahen Manufacturing executives convinced a production pause took place in June got confirmation July 15 from the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). It reported that U.S. manufacturing output declined 0.1% last month. Overall industrial output, which includes mining and utilities as well as manufacturing, also declined in June, falling 0.3%, more than the 0.1% economists generally expected. The FRB also revised its industrial output figure for May, lowering it to 0.9% from 1.1%. In June, capacity utilization in manufacturing slipped two-tenths of a percentage point to 76%; for industry overall, capacity utilization was down four-tenths of a percentage point to 77.2%.