US industrial production rebounds in February

U.S. industrial production recorded in February the largest increase since last August, official data showed here Monday.The Federal Reserve indicated that industrial production increased 0.6 percent in February after declining by 0.2 percent in January.In February, manufacturing output rose 0.8 percent and nearly reversed its decline of 0.9 percent in January, which resulted, "in part, from extreme weather." The output of utilities edged down 0.2 percent following a jump of 3.8 percent in January, and the production at mines moved up 0.3 percent.At 101.6 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in February was 2.8 percent above its level of a year earlier. The capacity utilization rate for total industry increased in February to 78.8 percent, a rate that is 1.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2013) average, according to the report.