US: Industrial production rose 0.4% in June for its fifth consecutive monthly increase

"Industrial production rose 0.4 percent in June for its fifth consecutive monthly increase. Manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent; although factory output has gone up and down in recent months, its level in June was little different from February," announced the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve on Friday.

Key highlights:

• The index for mining posted a gain of 1.6 percent in June, just slightly below its pace in May. The index for utilities, however, remained unchanged.
• For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 4.7 percent, primarily as a result of strong increases for mining and utilities.
• Manufacturing output rose at an annual rate of 1.4 percent, a slightly slower increase than in the first quarter.
• Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.2 percentage point in June to 76.6 percent, a rate that is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.