Investing.com - Industrial production in the U.S. bounced back more than expected in April after two consecutive months of declines, bolstering optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% last month, its largest gain since November 2014 and better than expectations for a gain of 0.3%.
Industrial production dropped by 0.9% in March, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decrease of 0.6%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% last month, in line with forecasts and following a decline of 0.3% in March.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose to 75.4% in April from 74.9% a month earlier. The March number was revised from an initial reading of 74.8%.
Analysts had expected a smaller increase to 75.0%.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1317 from around 1.1313 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4471 from 1.4464 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.26 from 109.25 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.56, compared to 94.59 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures slipped 0.22%, the S&P 500 futures ticked down 0.18%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.11%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,274.55 a troy ounce, compared to $1,273.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.02 a barrel from $47.80 earlier.