U.S. industrial production turns higher

Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in October after dropping a revised 0.1 percent in September, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board said Wednesday. Manufacturing output rose 0.5 percent after rising 0.3 percent in September. Production at mines jumped 2.3 percent in the month, while output at utilities fell for the third consecutive month, falling 0.1 percent. Capacity utilization -- measuring production as a percentage of manufacturing, mining and utilities operating at full steam -- rose to 77.8 percent, which is 2.1 percentage points higher than October 2010, but 2.6 percentage points below its long-term, 1972 to 2010 average, the Fed said.