Industrial production rose 0.9% in June, and at 119.7% of its 1997 average, it was 3.9% higher than its level in June 2004.
The increase in June was the largest for the overall index since February 2004. A jump of 5.3% in the output of utilities, the result of warmer-than-usual temperatures, accounted for more than one-half of the June gain.
Despite last month's large rise, total output advanced only 2.1% (annual rate) in the second quarter, the smallest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2003.
Manufacturing output advanced 0.4% in June, and the index for manufacturing excluding motor vehicles and parts edged up 0.1%. Production at mines rose 0.4%. Capacity utilization for total industry rose to 80.0%; the rate was 2.2 percentage points above its value in June 2004 but was one percentage point below its 1972-2004 average.