EU Factory Output Surprise Rise Driven by Germany

Output at euro zone factories rose much more strongly than expected in March, driven by energy production to show a second consecutive monthly increase and the highest jump in 20 months.

Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro increased by 1.0 percent from February, its strongest rise since July 2011, beating market expectations for a 0.4 percent rise, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday.

The overall picture remained mixed as industrial output decreased in France and Italy, the bloc’s second and third largest economies, highlighting the euro zone’s problems in restarting economic growth and creating new jobs.

Total output in March was fueled by an 3.8 percent increase in energy production month-on-month, a sector accelerating its pace from a 1.9 percent rise in the previous month and 0.1 percent in January.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza