US industrial production growth slows but beats estimates

16th Mar 2026 13:23

(Sharecast News) - Industrial production growth across the US slowed in February but still came in stronger than expected, with output increasing for the fourth month in a row, according to data out on Monday from the Federal Reserve.

Industrial production rose 0.2% last month, after rising by the most in 11 months in January (+0.7%), coming in slightly ahead of the consensus forecast of 0.1%.

Manufacturing output during the month increased 0.2% and the index for mining grew 0.8%, slightly offset by a 0.6% fall in utilities output.

As a result, industrial production was 1.4% ahead of February 2025.

Capacity utilisation, the percentage of production capacity actually used over the month, held steady at 76.3%, coming in ahead of the the 76.2% estimate but still some 3.1 percentage points below its long-run average.