Sandy hit US industrial production in October

US industrial production fell 0.4 percent in October largely due to the impact of the devastating superstorm Sandy which blasted the industry-heavy northeast, the Federal Reserve said Friday. Sandy, which came ashore in New Jersey on October 29 and shut down four major cities including New York, reduced production growth by nearly one percentage point, the Fed said. "The largest estimated storm-related effects included reductions in the output of utilities, of chemicals, of food, of transportation equipment, and of computers and electronic products," it said. Weak for much of the year, industrial production had climbed by 0.2 percent in September after a contraction in August. In the year to October 31, industrial production expanded 1.7 percent. Capacity utilization fell in October to 77.8 percent from 78.2 percent the previous month.