Industrial production inches up in October

The recovery in the industrial sector continues, albeit at a mild pace, as output at U.S. factories, mines, and utilities rose just 0.1% in October, following a 0.7% rise in September, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Tuesday.

Further, most sectors registered declines in October, with the utilities sector output helping to tip the scale by rising 1.6%.

Meanwhile, the factory utilization rate, also known as capacity utilization, rose to 70.7% in October from 70.5% in September. The capacity utilization rate is still 10.2 percentage points below its average for 1972-2008, the Fed said.