Investing.com - Industrial production in the U.S. was flat in October, while manufacturing production increased less than expected, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production was unchanged in October, worse than expectations for a gain of 0.2%.
Industrial production fell by 0.2% in September, whose figure was revised from a previously reported advance of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.3% gain and following an unrevised increase of 0.2% in September.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, unexpectedly dropped to 75.3% in October from 75.4% a month earlier.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0702 from around 1.0705 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2459 from 1.2454 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.36 from 109.32 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.34, compared to 100.33 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 64 points, or 0.34%, the S&P 500 futures lost 11 points, or 0.48%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 29 points, or 0.62%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,227.05 a troy ounce, compared to $1,226.55 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $45.57 a barrel from $45.37 earlier.
Analysts had expected an increase to 75.5%.