(July 17): US industrial production posted a solid advance for a second month in June, helped by a pickup in factory output that indicates manufacturing could be regaining some footing.

The 0.6% increase in production at factories, mines and utilities followed a revised 0.9% gain a month earlier, marking the biggest two-month advance since late 2021, Federal Reserve data showed on Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.3% increase.

Factory output rose 0.4% — in a broad advance that included gains in autos, electrical equipment, appliances and nondurable goods — following May’s upwardly revised 1% increase. Mining and energy extraction rose 0.3%, while output growth at utilities accelerated.

Manufacturing, which accounts for three-fourths of total industrial production, has had difficulty building momentum amid rising input prices and higher borrowing costs that have restrained investment. The Institute for Supply Management’s widely-followed measure of factory activity has been stuck in contraction territory for all but one month since October 2022.

The Fed’s report showed capacity utilisation at factories, a measure of potential output being used, rose to 77.9%, the highest level since September 2023. The overall industrial utilisation rate rose to 78.8%.

Output of consumer goods rose 1%, the most in nearly a year. A separate report on Tuesday showed that US retail sales, excluding the impact of a cyberattack on auto dealerships, rose in June by the most in three months, a sign consumers regained their footing at the end of the second quarter.

Motor vehicle assemblies surged to 13.4 million on an annualised basis, the highest in nearly nine years.

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