Industrial production and capacity utilization data for May 2016 are now available.Industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in May after increasing 0.6 percent in April. Declines in the indexes for manufacturing and utilities in May were slightly offset by a small gain for mining. The output of manufacturing moved down 0.4 percent, led by a large step-down in the production of motor vehicles and parts; factory output aside from motor vehicles and parts edged down 0.1 percent. The index for utilities fell 1.0 percent, as a drop in the output of electric utilities was partly offset by a gain for natural gas utilities. After eight straight monthly declines, the production at mines moved up 0.2 percent. At 103.6 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in May was 1.4 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.4 percentage point in May to 74.9 percent, a rate that is 5.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2015) average.]]>
