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WASHINGTON (AP) - Without the vagaries of changing weather patterns, the growth rate in America's industrial production sector last month likely would have been negligible.
But Mother Nature's weather flip-flop — a return of more-normal winter cold in February after an unusually warm January — caused this significant economic measure to increase by 0.7 percent. This is because of a big pickup in output at utility companies. As this was happening, factory production was flat.
The sharp increase reported for overall industrial activity by the Federal Reserve on Friday came after a 0.3 percent dip in January.
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