Industrial Production Grows in November

Industrial production rose 0.4% in November, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Production had dropped 0.2% in October. Economists had forecast a 0.3% gain, Bloomberg reported.

Factory output gained 0.7% excluding automobile production, the biggest increase since May. Auto output dropped 6% last month, the first decrease since August.

The share of industrial capacity in use increased to 75.2%, the highest since October 2008, the Fed said.

Manufacturing accounts for about an eighth of the U.S. economy and the factory sector is one of trucking’s largest and most important customers.