AP: Fed: U.S. industrial production rose 0.8% in November
Industrial production increased 0.8 percent in November after having been unchanged in October, the Federal Reserve announced on December 15. Manufacturing production advanced 1.1 percent, with broad-based gains among both durables and non-durables. The output of mines climbed 2.1 percent, but the index for utilities fell 1.8 percent, primarily as a result of lower output of gas utilities - temperatures in November were unseasonably mild and reduced the need for heating. At 99.4 percent of its 2002 average, total industrial production was 5.1 percent below its level of a year earlier. Capacity utilization for total industry moved up 0.7 percentage point to 71.3 percent, a rate 9.6 percentage points below its average for the period from 1972 through 2008.