Industrial Output Shoots Up 1.1 Percent

The nation’s industrial production rose more rapidly in August than it had since last year, as assembly lines churned out new cars and power plants ran full blast to cope with the heat wave.

The Federal Reserve said Friday that production surged 1.1 percent last month, the biggest gain in eight months. Factories and utilities were operating closer to capacity than they had since March.

The August gain in industrial production was the largest since an identical increase in December. The last time there was a bigger jump was nearly eight years ago.

Industries were operating at 84.3 percent of capacity last month, a 0.6 percentage point jump from July and the highest rate since March.