A report released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday showed industrial production in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of June.
The Fed said industrial production climbed by 0.6 percent in June after jumping by 0.9 percent in May. Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.3 percent.
The bigger than expected increase by industrial production partly reflected a continued spike in utilities output, which shot up by 2.8 percent in June after surging by 1.9 percent in May.
The report said manufacturing and mining output also rose by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, during the month.
The Fed also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector increased to 78.8 percent in May from a revised 78.3 percent in April.
Economists had expected capacity utilization to edge down to 78.6 percent from the 78.7 percent originally reported for the previous month.
Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector rose to 77.9 percent, while capacity utilization in the mining sector edged up to 89.3 percent and capacity utilization in the utilities sector jumped to 73.8 percent.