After a 0.8% M/M increase in February,
euro zone industrial production fell unexpectedly in March. On a monthly basis, industrial production dropped by 0.3% M/M, while the consensus was looking for a 0.4% M/M increase. The breakdown shows that weakness was mainly based in energy production (-8.5% M/M) due to the warm weather in March, following an extremely cold February. The other indices are less weak. Only production of durable consumer goods dropped in March (-0.2% M/M), while production of capital goods (1.1% M/M), intermediate goods (1.0% M/M) and non-durable consumer goods (0.8% M/M) rose in March. National data show a mixed picture with strength based in Portugal (2.3% M/M), Germany (1.3% M/M) and Italy (0.5% M/M). Weakness was based in the Netherlands (-9.0% M/M), Ireland (-2.7% M/M), Spain (-1.8% M/M), Greece (-1.0% M/M) and France (-0.9% M/M). Please keep in mind that these data do not include the construction sector, which was generally spoken strong in March, boosted by the warm weather. While the headline figure disappointed, the details are less worrying as weakness was mainly based in energy, due to the warm weather.