The Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing a modest rebound in U.S. industrial production in the month of November.<\/p>\n
The report said industrial production rose by 0.2 percent in November after slumping by a downwardly revised 0.9 percent in October.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected industrial production to climb by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
The rebound in industrial production came as manufacturing output increased by 0.3 percent in November after plunging by 1.2 percent in October following the resolution of strikes at several major automakers.<\/p>\n
Excluding a 7.1 percent bounceback in motor vehicles and parts production, manufacturing output dipped by 0.2 percent during the month.<\/p>\n
The Fed said mining output also rose by 0.3 percent in November after slumping by 1.1 percent in October, while utilities output fell by 0.4 percent after tumbling by 1.4 percent in the previous month.<\/p>\n
The report also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector crept up to 78.8 percent in November from a downwardly revised 78.7 percent in October.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected capacity utilization to rise to 79.1 percent from the 78.9 percent originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
Capacity utilization in the manufacturing and mining sectors rose to 77.2 percent and 93.7 percent, respectively, while capacity utilization in the utilities sector fell to 70.8 percent. <\/p>\n