Italian industrial production showed a stronger than expected rebound in March. On a monthly basis, industrial production rose by 0.5% M/M, while the consensus was looking for only a marginal increase by 0.1% M/M. The details show that strength in the manufacturing sector (0.6% M/M) and in mining and carrying (9.5% M/M) was partly offset by weakness in electricity & gas (-13.6% M/M). The breakdown suggests that also the Italian data were probably boosted by the warm weather, after a very cold February month. Nevertheless, the March rebound will be unable to compensate for the weakness in January and February. In the first quarter as a whole, output was still down by approximately 2%, suggesting a severe contraction in GDP can be expected for the first quarter. Also the outlook remains weak as the manufacturing PMI dropped sharply in April.