US industrial production up in November

The November increase in industrial production, an indicator of the output of factories, mines and utilities, followed a revised 0.7-percent decline in October, Xinhua reported.

Manufacturing output, the largest component of the overall industrial production, rose by 1.1 percent last month, the US Federal Reserve said Friday.

The manufacturing sector has shown upbeat performance since the US economy began to recover in the second half of 2009.

The output of the mining sector gained 0.8 percent in November, while the output of utilities edged up 1 percent.

The Fed report also showed that overall industrial capacity utilization - a key measure of slack in the industrial economy - stood at 78.4 percent in November, 0.7 percentage points higher than in the previous month.