US February industrial production likely declined, mining remains weak

US industrial production is expected to have declined by 0.3% in February after growing strongly by 0.9% in January. Manufacturing output is expected to have remained flat in the month. But despite this, the headline figure is likely to be weighed on by sharp fall in other components.

Mining is expected to have remained weak, falling 1.5% in February, the fifth consecutive decline in six months. Meanwhile, another moderate weather in February likely impacted electric and gas utilities, with output declining 1.4%. Hence, capacity utilization is expected to fall to 76.6%, dropping below the Q4 average.

Meanwhile, the country is also due to release its new construction data tomorrow. Housing starts are expected to have reached the highest level in February since September 2015 as construction in multifamily and single family is expected to have regained momentum.

“We expect new residential construction to rise by 7.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.18 million”, says Societe Generale.

Single home starts are expected to have increased by 44k to 775k, while multifamily constructions are expected to have rebounded by 11k to 379k.