Investing.com - Industrial production in the U.S. returned to declines in May, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, worse than expectations for a decline of 0.2%.
Industrial production had increased by 0.6% in April, whose figure was revised down from a previously reported increase of 0.7%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, worse than forecasts for a 0.1% increase and following a gain of 0.2% in April, similarly revised down from an initial read of a 0.3% gain.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are usingtheir resources, fell to 74.9% in May from 75.3% a month earlier. The April number was revised from an initial reading of 75.4%.
After the release of the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1216 from around 1.1219 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4170 from 1.4162 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 106.11 from 106.13 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was unchanged at 94.95.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures gained 0.22%, the S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.18%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.20%.