US industrial production rises for second straight month

(Sharecast News) - Industrial production growth across the United States held steady in December, according to data from the Federal Reserve on Friday, with output increasing more than analysts expected. Industrial production expanded by 0.4% over the month of December, in line with the 0.4% increase registered in November and the second straight month of gains after a 0.3% decrease in October.

The growth was comfortably ahead of the 0.1% consensus forecast, and tied for the highest rate of monthly growth since June 2025.

The industry breakdown showed that manufacturing output improved by 0.2% over the month, down from a 0.3% increase in November, while utilities production rebounded by 2.6% after falling by 0.3% previously.

That helped to offset a 0.7% decline in mining output during December, which pulled back after a 1.7% increase the month before.

At the same time, capacity utilisation - the percentage of overall production capacity that is actually used - improved to 76.3% from 76.1%, beating the 76.0% consensus forecast. That was the highest rate since July 2025, but still 3.2 percentage points below the long-term average.