US industrial production goes down

US industrial production, an indicator of the output of mines, factories and utilities, dropped 0.5 percent in April, US Federal Reserve reported.

Manufacturing output, the largest component of the overall industrial production, declined 0.4 percent last month, reported Xinhua.

Outside manufacturing, the output of mining sector rose 0.9 percent, and the output of utilities shed 3.7 percent last month.

The report also showed that overall industrial capacity utilization -- a key measure of slack in the industrial economy -- stood at 77.8 percent in April, 0.5 percentage point lower than the figure in March, and was 2.4 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2012.