Eurozone: Soft patch deepens ahead of ECB meeting - ING

Eurozone’s industrial production declined by 0.9% in April, further extending the weak spell in economic data, explains Bert Colijn, Senior Economist at ING.

Key Quotes

“Weather impact, strikes and holiday timings have been troubling eurozone data over recent months, but that impact has become smaller. The drop in industrial production came after some encouraging data for March, but the sharp decline in April brings industrial output back to the lowest level since July last year. Energy production plunged in April, but most production categories saw declining output. Only capital goods production increased by 1.9%.”

“While there is still enough to like about the eurozone economy to remain upbeat about the outlook for industry, the combination of decreasing future expectations and significant capacity constraints is curbing the production outlook for the moment.”