US industrial production picks-up in August

America's factories continued to hum along in August, boosted by output of business equipment and materials.

Total production increased by 0.4% month-on-month and by 4.9% year-on-year, according to the Federal Reserve.

That was exactly as expected by economists, although at up by 0.2% versus July, manufacturing production fell short of forecasts for a rise of 0.4%.

Mining output on the other hand continued to expand at a steady pace, helped by a steady increase in exploration activity, Barclays Research explained, rising by 0.7%, while that of utilities increased by 1.2%.

The degree of capacity in use meanwhile edged-up by two tenths of a percentage point to 78.1% (consensus: 78.3%).