US manufacturing output ekes out gains in Feb due to high interest rate

The Institute for Supply Management's measure of national manufacturing activity has contracted for four straight months

Production at U.S. factories edged up in February and output in the prior month was stronger than previously thought, but manufacturing continues to struggle under the weight of higher interest rates.
 

Manufacturing output gained 0.1% last month, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. Data for January was revised up to show production at factories increasing 1.3% instead of the previously reported 1.0% rise. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory production would fall 0.2%.
 

Output fell 1.0% on a year-on-year basis in February.
 

Manufacturing, which accounts for 11.3% of the U.S. economy, contracted in the third and fourth quarters of