The decline kept overall industrial production from rebounding as analysts had forecast, despite a surge in the volatile utilities component.
But manufacturing — which is at the center of President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies — dropped 0.4% after a 0.5% decline in the prior month, which was an improvement on the 0.9% decline originally reported. Output of motor vehicles and parts saw just a small dip, which was good news after the 7.6% drop in January, while computers and electronic products gained more than 1%.