Industrial production grew at a slower rate than expected in June, inching up 0.1 percent after a 1.3 percent rise in May, according to data released by the Federal Reserve.
However, industrial production was up 8.2 percent over June 2009.

Ceridian says its Pulse of Commerce Index closely tracks the Federal Reserve's monthly Industrial Production index. The most recent PCI predicted industrial production to grow by 0.25 percent in June.

For the second quarter, total industrial production increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent.

Manufacturing output was down 0.4 percent from May, but still posted an 8.3 percent boost over June 2009. Manufacturing has seen three months of gains at or near 1 percent prior to June, the Federal Reserve said. For the second quarter, manufacturing activity increased at an annual rate of 7.9 percent.

"We fully expect manufacturing output to grow solidly in the second half of the year, but it probably won't be as strong as during the first half of 2010 when output jumped 6.1 percent compared with the same period last year," said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, in his Weekly Economic Recap.

Capacity utilization for the industry remained unchanged in June, at 74.1 percent, a rate 5.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.3 percentage points to 71.4 percent, 6 percentage points above June 2009.

For durable goods manufacturing, the largest increases were in primary metals and machinery, whereas the largest decreases were recorded in wood products, motor vehicles and parts, and miscellaneous manufacturing.

Non-durable goods manufacturing fell 0.7 percent in June; decreases were offset by gains in apparel and leather, petroleum and coal products, and plastics and rubber products.