FX.co ★ US Manufacturing Output Unexpectedly Falls

US manufacturing output fell 0.3% in August, breaking a seven-month streak of consecutive gains and undershooting market expectations for a 0.3% increase. The decline was led by a 0.5% drop in durable-goods production, with losses recorded across most major categories. By contrast, output of nondurable goods was unchanged on the month, offering some support to overall factory activity. Production in other manufacturing industries, including publishing and logging, rose 1%. At the same time, manufacturing capacity utilisation slipped by 0.3 percentage point to 75.7% in August, leaving it 2.5 percentage points below its long-run average for the 1972–2025 period and underscoring the persistence of spare capacity in the sector.