US: Industrial production expands 0.1% in February vs 0.4% expected

"Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in February after decreasing 0.4 percent in January," the Fed announced on Friday and this reading also fell short of the market expectation of 0.4%.

Key takeaways from the press release

• Manufacturing production fell 0.4 percent in February for its second consecutive monthly decline.
• At 109.7 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 3.5 percent higher in February than it was a year earlier.
• Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged down 0.1 percentage point in February to 78.2 percent, a rate that is 1.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2018) average.