- James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets
Industrial output across the Eurozone surprisingly fell in October, another reason to believe that region's recession is getting worse. The seasonally adjusted industrial production in the 17-member Eurozone slipped by 1.4% from the previous month, the European Statistics Office Eurostat, said Wednesday. Analysts, however, expected a 0.2% increase. At the same time, the industrial output in the Europe's biggest economy shrank by 2.4% on a monthly basis, a sign that the deepening debt crisis weighing on big economies as well. As the industrial output is a core part of the region's economy, it is highly expected the economy will not step up from the recession in the upcoming months.
"If any further evidence were needed that the economic weakness is no longer confined to the periphery, German industrial production has dropped by 3.8 percent in the last year, a bigger fall than that seen in both Spain and Greece," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.
"For now, we continue to think that the ECB will leave policy rates on hold in 2013; these figures though, quite clearly, highlight the risk that we have long emphasized of a possible final cut," said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets.
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