Investing.com – Industrial production in the U.S. bounced back more than expected in December after the prior month’s decline, bolstering optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production rose 0.8% in December, better than expectations for a 0.6% advance.
Industrial production fell by 0.7% in November, whose figure was revised down from a previously reported decline of 0.4%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, worse than forecasts for a 0.4% rise but following a drop of 0.1% in November.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose more than expected to 75.5% in December from 74.9% a month earlier. November’s data was revised down from an initial reading of 75.0%
Analysts had expected an increase to 75.4%.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0673 from around 1.0666 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2295 from 1.2287 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 113.33 from 113.42 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.73, compared to 100.80 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures gained 22 points or 0.11%, the S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points, or 0.13%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 9 points, or 0.17%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,214.35 a troy ounce, compared to $1,213.65 ahead of the data, while crude oil was at $51.29 compared to $51.31 earlier.