More worrying signs from the eurozone yesterday, with the eurozone’s industrial production figures showing a decrease of 3.3% in November 2018 compared to the same month a year before. The markets had been expecting a more modest decline of 2.3% so the figures are particularly disappointing. On a monthly basis, production fell by 1.7%, when a drop of 1.5% had been forecast.
The monthly figures showed the biggest decline since February 2016 and the slump was broad-based. There are now real concerns that the eurozone economy is slowing and could even suffer a recession in 2019. The picture in France, Germany and Italy does not look good and given these are the eurozone’s three largest economies (once you take the UK out of the picture), this year could be a rocky one for Europe.
While the headlines will no doubt be taken up with Brexit-related news in the UK, it is a fairly busy day for the eurozone, with the full year GDP growth figures from Germany set for release. The German government will also announce its budget for 2019 and the eurozone’s balance of trade figures for November are also on the schedule. The European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, is also set to deliver a speech this afternoon.
