Industrial Production Shows A Lack Of Growth In May, Friday, June 15, 2007 9:57:10 AM

The Federal Reserve released its report on industrial production and capacity utilization in the month of May on Friday, showing that production unexpectedly came in flat compared to the previous month.

The report showed that industrial production was unchanged in May compared to a downwardly revised increase of 0.4 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected production to grow 0.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent growth originally reported for April.

The lack of production growth came as a 1.3 percent drop in utilities output offset a 0.5 percent increase in mining production and a 0.1 percent increase in manufacturing production.

The drop in utilities output came after unusually cold temperatures contributed to a 3.4 percent increase in utilities output in April.

The Federal Reserve also said that the capacity utilization rate edged down to 81.3 percent in May from a downwardly revised 81.5 percent in April. The capacity utilization rate had been expected to come in at 81.6 percent.

Capacity utilization edged down to 79.9 percent in the manufacturing sector and 84.7 percent in the utilities sector, while capacity utilization in the mining sector rose to 90.5 percent.

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