German industrial production drops less than expected

Production was down 0.5% following a revised 2.3% growth in January, which was much better than the 1.8% drop economists had been expecting.

On the year, production rose 1.3%, down from a revised 1.8% in January but stronger than the 0.4% expected.

Production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 0.5%. Within industry, the production of capital goods and the production of consumer goods fell 1.0%.

The production of intermediate goods rose 0.1%., while energy production was down 1.8% in February 2016 and the production in construction increased 1.3%.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “A surprisingly strong headline, even factoring in the large downward revision of last month’s jump.”