After declining a tenth of a percentage point in February, U.S. manufacturing production rose half a percentage point in March, the Federal Reserve System reported on April 14. During the past 12 months, manufacturing output has risen 4.8%.
Capacity utilization among America's factories also rose in March, to 80.4% from February's revised figure of 80.2%
For all of U.S. industry, which includes mining and utilities in addition to manufacturing, production rose six-tenths of a percentage point in March, following a half-percentage-point gain in February. Capacity utilization across industries increased to 81.3% in March from February's revised figure of 81%.
