Industrial production and capacity utilization data for December 2011 are now available.Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in December after having fallen 0.3 percent in November. For the fourth quarter as a whole, industrial production rose at an annual rate of 3.1 percent, its 10th consecutive quarterly gain. In the manufacturing sector, output advanced 0.9 percent in December with similarly sized gains for both durables and nondurables. The output of utilities fell 2.7 percent, as unseasonably warm weather reduced the demand for heating; the output of mines moved up 0.3 percent. At 95.3 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in December was 2.9 percent above its level of a year earlier. The capacity utilization rate for total industry rose to 78.1 percent, a rate 2.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972--2010) average.]]>
