Factory Operating Rate Rises

American factories, mines and utilities operated at 79.8% of capacity in February, the highest level in a year, the government reported today.

The Federal Reserve said the operating rate was the highest since U.S. industry operated at 80.2% of capacity in February, 1986, but it was still almost two percentage points lower than the summer of 1984, when American industry hit the high point for this recovery. The 0.2 point gain in February followed no change at all in January.