United States: U.S. industrial production drops for fifth straight month.

Section: General News - U.S. industrial production fell by 1.5 percent in March, the fifth consecutive monthly drop and worse than the 1 percent decline expected by analysts, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday (April 15, 2009).

The bigger-than-expected drop in overall industrial production, an indicator of the output of mines, factories and utilities, followed decreases of 1.5 percent in February and 2.1 percent in January.

The U.S. central bank's report showed that manufacturing output declined 1.7 percent in March, much steeper than the 0.6 percent drop in February. That marked its fifth straight monthly decline.

Decrease in electronic goods …