U.S. industrial production fell 0.5 percent in February after having increased 0.1 percent in January, according to the Federal Reserve.
Also, the country’s capacity utilization rate for all industries in February fell 0.6 percent to 80.9 percent, the lowest rate since November 2005.
The Fed said a weather-related drop of 3.7 percent in the output of utilities was mostly responsible for the drop in industrial production. In the manufacturing sector, output decreased 0.2 percent in February, and declines were fairly widespread across industries.
Total industrial production was 1.0 percent above its level of a year ago.
