Investing.com - Industrial production in the U.S. rose less than expected in February, dampening optimism over the economic outlook, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, below expectations for a gain of 0.2%.
Industrial production for January was revised down to a decline of 0.3% from a previously reported increase of 0.2%.
Meanwhile, manufacturing production declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in February, disappointing forecasts for a 0.1% increase and following a drop of 0.3% in January.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, declined to 78.9% in February from 79.1% in January, compared to expectations for a reading of 79.5%.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0564 from around 1.0559 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4813 from 1.4806 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 121.22 from 121.24 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.14, compared to 100.19 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 0.65% at the open, the S&P 500 futures rose 0.7%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures tacked on 0.6%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,156.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,155.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.45 a barrel from $46.39 earlier.