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U.S. industrial production continues to decline in May

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The U.S. industrial production dropped below market expectation in May, as manufacturing and mining activities remained weak.

The U.S. industrial production, an indicator of mines, factories and utilities output, decreased 0.2 percent in May, the Federal Reserve reported on Monday. April's decrease was revised down to 0.5 percent from its previous estimate of 0.3 percent.

Industrial production has been weak since December and economists had estimated output to rise 0.2 percent in May.

The manufacturing output, the largest component of the overall industrial production, dropped 0.2 percent in May, compared to an increase of 0.1 percent in April. With the oil prices stabilizing, the index for mining fell 0.3 percent after declining more than 1 percent per month on average in the previous four months. The output of utilities rose 0.2 percent after falling 3.7 percent in April.

The total industrial production in May was 1.4 percent above the year-earlier level.

The Fed's Monday report was at odds with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) report released earlier this month, which showed economic growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector picked up pace in May, with the purchasing managers index (PMI) rising to 52.8 in May from April's reading of 51.5. Endite