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Industrial production ticked up 0.1% in August, while manufacturing output increased 0.2% after edging down 0.1% in July. At 100.3% of its 2017 average, manufacturing production in August rose just 0.9% from the same month last year. Capacity utilization for manufacturing inched up to 76.8%, up 0.1 percentage point from July and advanced 1.2% over the past year. Capacity utilization remains 1.4 percentage points below its long-term average from 1972 to 2024.

In August, major market groups posted mixed results. Consumer goods production rose 0.4%, while business equipment output dipped 0.1%. The rise in production of consumer durables (up 0.6%) was primarily driven by automotive products’ output growth, advancing 1.3%, while the index for consumer nondurables increased 0.3%, experiencing gains in nearly every category. Among business equipment, the 1.2% drop in the index for industrial and other equipment more than offset the 2.1% and 0.7% rise in the indexes for transit equipment and information processing equipment, respectively. On the other hand, the indexes for construction supplies and materials rose 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively, while the index for business supplies fell 0.4% in August.

Durable goods manufacturing rose 0.2% in August and 1.5% from the year prior. Monthly growth was greatest for motor vehicles and parts (up 2.6%), while furniture and related products and miscellaneous manufacturing posted the largest declines at 1.7% each. Meanwhile, led by a 2.5% boost in textile and product mills output, nondurable goods manufacturing increased 0.3% in August and 0.7% from August 2024.