WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. industrial production dropped 0.2 percent in September compared to August, the Federal Reserve said Monday.
The Fed said industrial output for the third quarter on an annual basis rose 4.8 percent, a decline from a rise of about 7 percent in the first two quarters of the year.
Manufacturing output declined 0.2 percent with or without automobile production as a factor. Production at mines rose 0.7 percent. At the nation's utilities, production fell 1.9 percent.
Capacity utilization, measuring production as a percentage of manufacturing, mining and utilities operating at full steam, fell to 74.7 percent in the month, 4.2 percentage points higher than September 2009 but 5.9 percentage points below the 1972 to 2009 average.
