Highlights
Industrial production fell a sharper than expected 0.7 percent on the month in December to leave fourth quarter output 0.8 percent below its third quarter level. Although the originally reported November gain was doubled to 0.4 percent, production at year-end was still some 5.6 percent down on December 2008.

For calendar 2009, industrial production slumped a remarkable 17.5 percent, and that after a 3.3 percent drop in the previous year.

December's decline was due to monthly falls in the output of both capital goods (1.6 percent) and energy (0.2 percent). However, there were gains in both consumer goods (1.7 percent) and intermediates (1.2 percent).

In line with a number of other EMU states last quarter, actual Italian industrial production has proved notably weaker than suggested by its manufacturing PMI. This may suggest that there are some positive revisions in the pipeline or it may be that there has been some breakdown in the relationship between the two series, at least temporarily.

In any event, fourth quarter data on real GDP due on Friday look likely to disappoint. Certainly there is very little chance of the bottom line matching the 0.6 percent quarterly gain posted in the July-September period.

2010 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/13 2/10 3/10 4/12 5/10 6/10 7/9 8/6 9/10 10/11 11/10 12/10 Released For: Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct