Eurozone industrial production rebounds to post rise in May

Industrial production in the Eurozone recorded a better-than-expected rise in April, rebounding from a slump in March, official data showed on Wednesday.

Industrial production in the single-currency bloc rose 1% month-on-month in April for a 0.2% year-on-year rise as a sharp rise in the output of capital goods offset reduced production of consumer goods. March's revised figures revealed a 3.8% slump.

Capital goods output jumped 14.7% month-on-month in April after a 15.2% plunge in March, more than compensating for a 2.6% monthly fall in the production of durable consumer goods and a 3.0% fall in non-durable goods.

Production in Ireland, where the figures distort overall statistics surged 21.5%.

"This volatility is driven by significant swings in the so-called modern sectors, which capture multinationals who book profits in their Irish subsidiaries, for tax reasons. This, in turn, drives volatility in EZ intellectual capex and offsetting flows in net services trade," said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"It’s annoying for those of use trying to forecast the EZ data, but these numbers have no real economic significance, and can safely be ignored for the purpose of understanding what’s going on in the real economy."

"With that out of the way, EZ manufacturing was on its knees at the start of Q2, consistent with leading indicators. On the upside, industrial production in France climbed by 0.8% on the month, but output was flat in Germany, and it fell by 1.8% and 1.9% in Spain and Italy, respectively."

"In the smaller economies, production in Greece and Portugal also dropped, by 2.0% and 5.5%, and the picture was equally grim in the smaller countries further north; output in the Netherlands and Finland slipped by 3.5% and 1.7%, respectively."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com