French factories whir back to life in April

French factories whirred back into life in March, pointing to a "bright" outlook for the euro area's economy in 2017, according to economists.

Manufacturing output jumped by 2.5% on the month according to INSEE, driving a 2.0% month-on-month rebound for total industrial production after a fall of 1.7% in the month before.

Production of factory equipment and transport material rose the most, rising by 4.8% and 5.2%, respectively, INSEE said.

Yet the bulk of March's gains came from the production of so-called 'other industrial products', such as chemicals, metals and textiles.

Nonetheless, for the first quarter as a whole industrial production was down by 0.3%.

Economists at Barclays Research said Wednesday's data confirmed a deceleration in first quarter GDP growth to 0.3% in quarter-on-quarter terms.

"That said, a positive carry over of 0.7% q/q for Q2 and well-oriented business surveys (and a likely temporary negative contribution from energy), confirm our baseline of a relatively bright outlook. We look for GDP growth to accelerate to 0.5% q/q in Q2, and 1.5% for the year as a whole," said Barclays's Francois Cabau.