(RTTNews) - Industrial production in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of May, the Federal Reserve revealed in a report released by on Tuesday.
The Fed said industrial production jumped by 0.9 percent in May after coming in unchanged in April. Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.3 percent.
The much stronger than expected growth partly reflected a rebound by manufacturing output, which advanced by 0.9 percent in May after falling by 0.4 percent in April.
Utilities output also shot up by 1.6 percent in May after spiking by 4.1 percent in April, while mining output rose by 0.3 percent in May after climbing by 0.7 percent in April.
The report also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector increased to 78.7 percent in May from a downwardly revised 78.2 percent in April.
Economists had expected capacity utilization to rise to 78.6 percent from the 78.4 percent originally reported for the previous month.
Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector climbed to 77.1 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining sector edged up to 92.7 percent and capacity utilization in the utilities sector jumped to 71.5 percent.
