Industrial Production Improves, Led by Factory Output

Industrial production rose 0.1% in March, following a 0.2% gain in February, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

Factory output climbed 0.9%, while warmer weather that limited utility production, which fell 6.4% in the biggest decline in more than four years.

The industrial production increase was short of economists’ forecasts of a 0.7% increase, Bloomberg reported.

The share of industrial capacity in use rose to 73.2% from 73% in February.

Manufacturing accounts for about an eighth of the U.S. economy and the factory sector is one of trucking’s largest and most important customers.