U.S. manufacturing output slowed in September as the production of computer and electronic goods fell, suggesting business spending ended the third quarter with less momentum.
Manufacturing production edged up 0.1 percent last month after advancing 0.5 percent in August, the Federal Reserve said on Monday. The report comes on the heels of a report last week showing a gauge of business spending tumbled in September.
While manufacturing accounts for only about 12 percent of the economy, these reports, taken together with data on employment and home sales, suggest the economic activity ended the July-September quarter on a weak note.
Manufacturing production was held back by a 0.5 percent drop in computer and electronic goods output. Production of electrical appliances also fell as did the output of nonmetallic mineral products.
While automobile output increased 2.0 percent, that was a sharp slowdown from the 5.2 percent rise logged in August.
Economists expect manufacturing slowed in October as a partial shutdown of the federal government earlier in the month hurt business confidence.
In September, a rebound in utilities output lifted overall industrial production 0.6 percent, the largest increase since February. Economists polled by Reuters had expected industrial output would rise 0.4 percent.
"With manufacturing sector activity likely to moderate even further in October, on account of the fallout from the protracted government shutdown, we expect some of this unexpected buoyancy in industrial output to be surrendered next month," said Millan Mulraine, senior economist at TD Securities in New York.
For the third quarter, production at the nation's factories, mines and utility plants rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, accelerating from the second-quarter's 1.1 percent pace.
Utilities rebounded 4.4 percent in September after five straight months of declines.
Mining production rose 0.2 percent last month, but that was a slowdown from August's 0.6 percent increase.
Last month, the amount of industrial capacity rose to 78.3 percent, the highest level since July 2008, from 77.9 percent in August.
Industrial capacity utilization - a measure of how fully firms are using their resources - was 1.9 percentage points below its long-run average.
Officials at the Fed tend to look at utilization measures as a signal of how much "slack" remains in the economy, and how much room growth has to run before it becomes inflationary.
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