Area dell'Euro Produzione Industriale (Mensile)

Industrial production in the Euro Area plunged by 3.2% month-over-month in January 2024, marking a stark reversal from the downwardly revised 1.6% growth recorded in December and faring much worse than market projections of a 1.5% decline. It was the sharpest contraction in activity since March of the previous year, and the second-largest decline since the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020, primarily driven by a staggering 14.5% drop in the production of capital goods. Furthermore, output also declined for both durable goods (-1.2% vs 1.0% in December) and non-durable consumer goods (-0.3% vs -2.2%). However, the production of intermediate goods saw a notable increase of 2.6%, rebounding from five consecutive months of contraction or stagnation, while energy output grew by 0.5%, marking the fourth consecutive period of expansion.