US industrial output last month took its biggest dive in nearly 11 years and extended a string of monthly declines that was the longest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Federal Reserve said today.
The output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities fell 1.1 per cent in October, the biggest decrease since it plunged 1.3 per cent in November 1990, it said.
The latest decline, which followed a 1 percent drop in September, marked the 13th consecutive fall in output, the longest string of declines since the 15 months ended July 1932, it added.
The latest monthly decline, which was slightly steeper than expected, touched every major industrial sector, except electric utilities, and was especially deep in the automobile, primary metals, lumber and furniture industries, the Fed said.
Production of cars and related parts fell 4.2 percent in October and was down 10.3 per cent from a year earlier as the motor vehicle assemblies fell to an annual rate of 10.8 million units from 11.2 million in September.
High-tech industry output fell 0.7 per cent last month after a 1.7 per cent drop in September and was down 12.5 per cent from its level of a year earlier.
The portion of production capacity put to use by industries in October slid to 74.8 per cent, the lowest since June 1983, from 75.7 per cent in September.
Mining output, which includes oil and gas production, fell 1.3 per cent in October after slipping 0.1 per cent in September.
Output by electric utilities rose 0.6 per cent last month after a 1 per cent drop in September.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Reutershad expected October industrial production to fall by 0.9 per cent and for the capacity utilization rate to drop to 74.7 per cent.