Washington ? The nation’s industrial sector hardest hit by last year’s recession stumbled in August, with production falling for the first time in eight months.

While the Federal Reserve’s report Tuesday disappointed economists, most viewed the development more as a rough patch than a sign that the economy might slide back into recession.

Trader William Sjem, left, works on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. Disappointed by a drop in industrial production and a profit warning from McDonald's, investors sold stocks mostly lower Tuesday. The session also marked the one-year anniversary of the resumption of trading after the terror attacks.

Turning in its worst performance this year, output at the nation’s factories, utilities and mines fell by 0.3 percent in August from the previous month.

Much of the weakness came from a sharp, 2.5 percent drop in output at gas and electric utilities, something economists didn’t view as particularly worrisome because these figures tend to bounce around from month to month because of weather changes.

At factories, production dipped by 0.1 percent in August as makers of motor vehicles and automotive parts cut back production, after ramping up output by sizable amounts in June and July. Production at mines rose 0.8 percent last month.

David Huether, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers, referred to the decline as a “speed bump” that followed three months of brisk growth in which overall industrial output rose an average of 0.5 percent.

“The manufacturing recovery will continue to run on less-than-all cylinders until a sustained recovery in business investment takes holds in 2003,” Huether predicted.