Industrial Output Dips 0.1%, the First Decline in 6 Months

Industrial production dipped 0.1% in September, the first drop in six months, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday in a report that reflected continued weakness in the manufacturing sector of the economy.

But Michael Evans of Evans Economics Inc., a Washington forecasting firm, said that “while the economy is not strong, there’s no sign of a downturn.”

The Fed said last month’s decline in output was the first since a 0.2% drop last February. It followed a revised gain of 0.3% in August and an unchanged rate in July.

Cynthia Latta, an economist at the DRI/McGraw-Hill forecasting firm in Lexington, Mass., said industrial production has been cut in half this year, compared to 1988.

“This confirms that demand is slowing,” she said. “When you get a slowdown in the economy, it tends to show up first in the goods sector.”

In another report, the Fed said the operating rate of the nation’s factories, mines and utilities also fell in September, by 0.2 percentage point to 83.6%. This also reflected the decline in the production rate.