Investing.com - Industrial production in the U.S. rose for the first time in six months in January, boosting optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.9% last month, beating expectations for a gain of 0.4%. Industrial production fell by 0.7% in December, whose figure was revised down from a previously reported fall of 0.4%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% last month, above forecasts for a 0.3% increase and following a decline of 0.2% in December.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose to 77.1% in January from 76.4% a month earlier, beating expectations for 76.7%.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1111 from around 1.1119 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4268 from 1.4284 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 114.34 from 114.18 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.09, compared to 97.02 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures climbed 150 points, or 0.94%, the S&P 500 futures rose 19 points, or 0.97%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 48 points, or 1.15%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,207.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,208.10 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $30.06 a barrel from $30.09 earlier.