UK industrial output falls, eurozone and Japanese economies recovering

The recovery in the UK is looking less certain after the release of data on Tuesday. From Reuters:

The economic recovery stalled in the three months to September, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said after official data on Tuesday showed a sharp drop in industrial output in August.

NIESR said GDP was flat in the third quarter following a modest expansion of 0.1 percent in the three months to August, an outturn it described as disappointing...

The Office for National Statistics said industrial output, which accounts for some 17 percent of the economy, fell 2.5 percent in August, while manufacturing output was 1.9 percent down, leading some analysts to doubt the likelihood of a rebound in growth in Q3.

And in the euro area, it turns out that the recession in the second quarter was not quite as mild as initially thought. From Bloomberg on Wednesday:

Europe’s economy contracted more than estimated in the second quarter as consumer spending, investment and exports were weaker than earlier reported.

Gross domestic product in the 16-nation euro region fell 0.2 percent from the first quarter, when it dropped 2.5 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today in publishing final figures on second-quarter GDP. The decline was sharper than the 0.1 percent decrease estimated on Sept. 2.

However, the economy appears to be improving in the third quarter, at least for the eurozone's biggest. Again from Bloomberg:

German factory orders rose more than economists forecast in August, indicating that growth in Europe’s largest economy continued to accelerate in the third quarter.

Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, rose 1.4 percent from July, when they advanced a revised 3.1 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. That was a sixth consecutive increase and exceeded the 1.1 percent median forecast of 38 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Compared with a year earlier, orders were down 20.4 percent.

Japan's economic recovery also appears to be on track based on Wednesday's data. From Bloomberg:

Japan’s broadest indicator of economic health rose for a fifth month in August as global stimulus spending helped the country emerge from its worst postwar recession.

The coincident index, a composite of 11 indicators including factory production and retail sales, climbed to 91.4 in August, the highest since November, from a revised 89.8 a month earlier, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 11 economists was for a gain to 91.2...

The leading index, a gauge of economic conditions in three to six months, rose to 83.3 from a revised 82.5.