- Michel Martinez, an economist at Societe Generale SA
The industrial production in France, Europe's second largest economy, bounced back in February, as production from car and aircraft factories improved. According to the national statistics office Insee, French industrial output climbed 0.7% after a revised 0.8% decline in January, beating analysts' expectations, which called for a 0.2% gain. During the past three months industrial output was slightly (0.1%) lower than in the previous quarter, while the manufacturing sector posted a stronger decline of 0.3%. Also Wednesday, separate data showed production fell in both Italy and Spain in February.
"This isn't the beginning of the recovery," said Bruno Cavalier, chief economist at Oddo & Cie in Paris. "Confidence is dropping, even more so in services than industry. France is in recession and will stay there for at least several more months."
"We'll probably have a second quarterly contraction with external trade contributing negatively," said Michel Martinez, an economist at Societe Generale SA in Paris. "France is less open to exports than many countries and the problem is that exports won't necessarily drive this year's recovery."
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