Investing.com – Industrial production in the U.S. rose in line with forecasts in March, though manufacturing production unexpectedly declined, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production increased 0.5% from the prior month in March, in line with the market consensus.
Industrial production had inched up 0.1% in February.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, worse than forecasts for a 0.1% rise and following a gain of 0.3% in February that was revised down from an initial 0.5% increase.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose to 76.1% in March from 75.7% a month earlier. February’s data was revised up from an initial reading of 75.4%
Analysts had expected an increase from the initial February reading to 76.2%.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.0693 compared to 1.0690 before the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2723 from 1.2712 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 108.68 from 108.75 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 99.75, compared to 99.79 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were trading lower. The blue-chip Dow futures dropped 82 points, or 0.40%, the S&P 500 futures lost 9 points, or 0.36%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 17 points, or 0.31%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,287.50 compared to $1,286.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $52.41 a barrel from $52.36 earlier.