US Industrial Output Tops Forecasts as Manufacturing Stabilizes

  • Overall production rose 0.9% in December, helped by strike end
  • Factory output fell 0.5% in 2024, matching prior year’s drop

A worker inspects structural steel beams during production at a steel contractors facility in West Jordan, Utah.

Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg
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US industrial production rose in December by more than forecast, helped by a pickup in factory output that indicates manufacturing is stabilizing after two years of weakness.

The 0.9% increase in production at factories, mines and utilities was the largest since February and followed an upwardly revised 0.2% advance a month earlier, Federal Reserve data showed Friday. The December gain exceeded all projections in a Bloomberg survey of economists.