Eurozone: Industrial production rebounds in April

The industrial sector in the common-currency bloc rebounded in April, growing a seasonally-adjusted 1.1% over the previous month. The reading notably contrasted the revised 0.7% decrease observed in March (previously reported: -0.8% month-on-month) and overshot market analysts expectations of a 0.8% expansion.

April’s reading reflected rebounds in the production of consumer, intermediate and capital goods. In contrast, production of energy slowed in April. Industrial production grew 2.0% in April over the same month last year (March: +0.2% year-on-year).

Among the Euro area economies for which data are available, the largest gains in production were recorded in Ireland (+6.7% mom), Portugal (+6.4% mom) and Estonia (+5.9% mom). Regarding the region’s largest economies, output expanded in France (+1.2% mom), Germany (+1.1% mom) and Italy (0.5% mom).In Spain, however, industrial production contracted 0.1%.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see industrial production expanding 1.8% in 2016, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists see industrial production growing 1.9%.