Industrial production increased 0.8% in November after having been unchanged in October.
Manufacturing production advanced 1.1%, with broad-based gains among both durables and nondurables. The output of mines climbed 2.1%, but the index for utilities fell 1.8%, primarily as a result of lower output of gas utilities. At 99.4% of its 2002 average, total industrial production was 5.1% below its level of a year earlier.
“The strong gain in November’s industrial activity has to be put in context of the flattening out in October,” says Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. “Averaged over two month, the industrial gain is moderately strong but has much room to improve.”
Capacity utilization for total industry moved up 0.7 percentage point to 71.3%, a rate 9.6 percentage points below its average for the period from 1972 through 2008.
For more details, including breakout by market and industry group, download the pdf below.