WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production increased for a second straight month in April as more factories came online after being shutdown by winter ice storms.
Industrial production — which includes output at factories, mines and utilities — rose 0.7% last month, down from a sharp gain of 2.4% in March, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.
Manufacturing output rose 0.4%, even as a shortage of semiconductor chips caused auto production to fall. The manufacturing of machinery, steel and other metals, and chemicals rose.
Utility production climbed 2.6%, after a sharp drop in March. And mines lifted production 0.7% last month.
The U.S. economy is expanding at a healthy clip as consumers become more confident and states and cities relax restrictions on businesses. Growth was 6.4% at an annual rate in the first three months of the year and economists forecast the expansion could accelerate to a double-digit pace in the April-June quarter.
Still, there are signs that Americans are switching their spending away from goods to services, as restaurants, movies, and other entertainment venues open up. Retail sales for April were flat, according to a separate report Friday, though sales at restaurants and bars rose 3%.
Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press
