Industrial Production Surges 1.3% In November

Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in November, the Federal Reserve said Monday. This is the biggest increase since May 2010. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 0.9% rise. Another sign of strength came in a slight upward revision to output in the past three months. In November, manufacturing output rose 1.1% with broad-based gains. Output of consumer goods rose 2.5%, the largest increase since August 1998. Utilities output jumped 5.1% on cold weather in the month. Mining output dropped 0.1%. Capacity utilization rose to 80.1%, above the 79.4% consensus and the highest since March 2008.