Industrial Production Misses Analysts Projections For August

Industrial production slipped 0.1 percent in August after a gain of 0.2 percent the month before. Analysts expected a 0.3 percent boost for the month. The decline may be deceiving on auto assemblies on retooling schedules.

Manufacturing production fell 0.4 percent after a 0.7 percent increase in July. Weakness was led by motor vehicles which dropped a monthly 7.6 percent. In contrast, motor vehicle sales have been healthy, indicating that this is just a retooling timing issue. Manufacturing excluding motor vehicles rose 0.1 percent after a matching rise in July.

For other industries, mining rebounded 0.5 percent after slipping 0.3 percent in July. Utilities made a partial comeback of 1.0 percent, following a drop of 2.7 percent the month before.

Capacity utilization eased to 78.8 percent from 79.1 percent in July.

Overall, manufacturing is still a positive for the economy although the strength oscillates.