Eurozone industrial production unexpectedly dips in October

Eurozone industrial production fell short of the consensus in October, according to data released by Eurostat.

Industrial production in the 19 countries that share the euro was down 0.1% from September, when it was down 0.0%. Economists had been expecting a 0.2% rise.

The decrease during the month was attributed to the production of non-durable consumer goods falling by 1.5% and intermediate goods by 0.5%. Meanwhile production of energy rose by 0.8%, capital goods by 1.0% and durable consumer goods by 1.5%.

On the year, industrial production in the euro bloc was up 0.6%, below expectations of a 0.8% rise.

In the EU-28 group of countries, industrial production was down 0.3% on the month but increased by 0.5% on the year.

Pantheon Macroeconomics chief eurozone economist Claus Vistesen said: “A downbeat headline, mainly due to weakness in France which offset a rise in Spain. Production in Germany rose a marginal 0.1% month-to-month, while it was flat in Italy. In addition, weakness in the smaller economies, including a 3.6% plunge in Ireland, weighed on the headline.

“This signals a poor start to Q4, but we’re confident data in the rest of the quarter will be better. Surveys point to accelerating growth year-over-year, and we think industrial production will increase about 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in Q4, marginally higher than the 0.4% increase in Q3. In addition, the separate construction data for October next week also likely will tell a more upbeat story on the outlook for investment in Q4.”