Euro area industrial production slips in June, but economists sanguine
Industrial production in the single currency bloc fell back in June amid sharp drops in the output of capital and durable consumer goods.
Total output shrank by 0.6% on the month and was up by 2.6% year-on-year, according to Eurostat.
Economists had forecast a fall of 0.5% month-on-month and a gain of 2.8% on the year.
In May, total industrial production had risen by 3.9% on the year.
Versus May, output declined by 1.1% in Germany and was 1.2% lower in France, but in Spain it was flat while in Italy it grew by 1.1% and in the Netherlands by 1.2%.
By categories, only energy output was higher, rising by 1.8% month-on-month, with capital goods production enduring the steepest downturn, falling by 1.9% on the previous month.
Production of durable consumer goods was also weaker, slipping by 1.2% on the month while that of non-durable consumer dropped 0.4%.
Intermediate goods output was down by 0.3%.
Following Monday's data, Jack Allen at Capital Economics said it was unlikely that Eurostat would row back from a preliminary estimate of 0.6% quarter-on-quarter growth in euro area gross domestic product.
"Looking ahead, both the manufacturing PMI and the European Commission’s industrial sentiment indicator remain consistent with healthy production growth. All things considered, we remain optimistic about the euro-zone economy, and forecast above-consensus GDP growth of 2.2% this year and 2.0% in 2018."