Eurozone industrial production unexpectedly declines

Eurozone industrial production in June turned out disappointing. Bloomberg reports:

European industrial production unexpectedly declined in June, led by a drop in durable consumer goods such as furniture and home appliances.

Output in the economy of the 16 nations that use the euro dropped 0.1 percent from May, when it increased 1.1 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had projected a gain of 0.6 percent, the median of 32 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed. From a year earlier, June output gained 8.2 percent.

Still, the June year-on-year gain in eurozone industrial ouput isn't bad at all when compared with supposedly high-growth India. Again from Bloomberg:

India’s industrial production rose at the slowest pace in 13 months in June, adding to evidence that Asian economies are weakening.

Output at factories, utilities and mines rose 7.1 percent after a revised 11.3 percent gain in May from a year earlier, the statistics department said in New Delhi. The expansion was less than the estimates of all but two of 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Another country showing a decline in industrial production in June was Japan. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's final report on June industrial production showed a 1.1 percent fall from May. This, though, was better than the preliminary estimate of a 1.5 percent decline.

Japanese capital spending appears to be increasing again though. On Wednesday, Japan had reported a 1.6 percent rise in core private sector machinery orders in June. However, this followed a 9.1 percent fall in May. For the April-June quarter, this indicator rose by just 0.3 percent and is forecasted to rise by 0.8 percent in the July-September quarter.