American industry expanded for the fourth consecutive month in January, but it has yet to return to the level of activity that preceded the pandemic.
U.S. industrial production — which includes output factories, mines and utiliites — rose 0.9% last month on top of increases of 1.3% in December, 0.9% in November and 1.1% in October, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Still, industrial production was down 1.8% from January 2020, reflecting lingering economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
Manufacturing rose 1% even though auto production was held down by a shortage of semiconductors used in vehicles.
Mining jumped 2.3% on a burst of oil and gas drilling.
Utility output dropped 1.2% on declining production of natural gas.
