WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Thanks to strong consumer goods and utilities output, industrial production in November rose by the largest percentage since May 2010, according to data released by the Federal Reserve on Monday.

Industrial production rose more than forecast and data was also revised up for the past three months.

Industrial production grew 1.3% in November, topping the 0.9% gain seen in a MarketWatch-compiled economic forecast. Production is up 5.2% over the past year.

In November, manufacturing output grew 1.1%, utilities output gained 5.1%, while mining, which includes oil and natural gas, slipped 0.1%.

Consumer goods production jumped 2.5%, the largest since August 1998. Automotive products and parts, up 7.7% in the past year, rose 5.1% in November.

Capacity utilization rose in November to 80.1% from an upwardly revised 79.3% in October. This is the highest level since March 2008 and equal to its long-run average. This may be a sign that the ample slack that existed in the economy in the wake of the financial crisis has been taken away.

There was one other report on the manufacturing sector on Monday. The Empire State factory index unexpectedly fell into negative territory in December. The index fell to negative 3.6 from positive 10.2 in November, to mark the first negative reading since January 2013.

Economists said they would look for confirmation from other regional manufacturing surveys but Millan Mulraine, deputy head of U.S. research at TD Securities, said the Empire data was “likely an outlier.”