US industrial production slid a steeper-than-expected 1.1 per cent in May from the prior month with output off sharply at factories, utilities and mines, a Federal Reserve report showed today.
Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a 0.9 per cent decline after a revised 0.7 per cent drop in April, initially reported as a 0.5 per cent decrease.
The data suggest that any slowdown in the pace of the recession that many economists have pointed to in recent weeks may be uneven.
The capacity utilization rate for total industry, a measure of slack in the economy, fell to 68.3 per cent, the lowest level on records dating back to 1967.