The US Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that while industrial production was unchanged in March for a second month, it rose at an annual rate of 5.4 percent in Q1 2012. Manufacturing output declined 0.2 percent in March but jumped 10.4 percent at an annual rate in Q1. The gain in manufacturing output in Q1 was broadly based: Even excluding motor vehicles and parts, which jumped at an annual rate of nearly 40 percent, manufacturing output moved up at an annual rate of 8.3 percent and output for all but a few major industries increased 5 percent or more.
In March, production at mines rose 0.2 percent and the output of utilities gained 1.5 percent. For the quarter, however, the output of utilities dropped at an annual rate of 13.8 percent, largely as a result of unseasonably warm temperatures over the past several months, while the output of mining fell 5.4 percent.
The rate of capacity utilization for total industry edged down to 78.6 percent, a rate 2.1 percentage points above its level from a year earlier but 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2011) average.