The sharp decline in oil prices and the drumbeat of energy companies laying off workers and cutting back spending ought to weigh on oil and gas output. But it could take some time for this to completely show up in Fed numbers. Work at a drilling rig in Texas. Photo: Getty Images U.S. industrial output is about to run out of energy. The same can’t be said for the U.S. economy. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday will release January figures on industrial production—the combined output of U.S. manufacturing, utility and mining sectors—and economists expect a gain of 0.4% from a month earlier. A pickup in manufacturing employment and hours, as well as auto-industry production schedules, suggest factory activity increased. There was a warm-weather downdraft in utility production in December that probably at least partially reversed itself last month. The problem area is mining. Although it conjures images of […]