U.S. Manufacturing Output Down 3.1% in February

Manufacturing production in the United States declined by 3.1% in February, data by the U.S. Federal Reserve showed on Tuesday.

The decline comes after nine consecutive months of increased in manufacturing output.

The decline was largely attributed to the recent winter storms that especially affected oil production in Texas. Excluding the impact of the bad weather conditions, manufacturing production only decreased by 0.5% last month.

Mining also plunged by 5.4%, while industrial production fell by 2.2%.

Capacity utilization went down by 2.3% to 72.3%, while the sector’s overall capacity dropped by 1.7% to 73.8%.