Industrial production recorded its biggest drop in more than 2-1/2 years in March, weighed down by a decline in mining and utilities output, fresh evidence that economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter.
Industrial production fell 0.6 per cent after edging up 0.1 per cent in February, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. March's decline was the largest since August 2012 and was worse than economists' expectations for only a 0.3 per cent drop.
Manufacturing output ticked up 0.1 per cent. Utilities production tumbled 5.9 per cent, reversing February's 5.7 per cent increase. A 17.7 per cent plunge in oil and gas well drilling pulled mining production down 0.7 per cent last month.
For the first quarter, industrial production declined at an annual rate of 1.0 per cent, the first quarterly decrease since the second quarter of 2009. Oil and gas well drilling and servicing, which tumbled at a more than 60 per cent annual rate, accounted for the bulk of the drop in industrial output in the first quarter.
