Italy Industrial Production Falls Unexpectedly On Lower Energy Output

(RTTNews) - Italy's industrial production decreased for the third straight month in November, driven mostly by a steep decline in energy goods output and to a lesser extent by weakness in the consumer and intermediate goods divisions, the statistical office Istat said on Friday.

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent month-on-month in November, following a 1.1 percent rise in October. Meanwhile, economists had forecast a 0.3 percent gain.

Production in the energy goods sector dropped the most, by 4.5 percent, since October. Production of consumer and intermediate products fell 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

On a yearly basis, industrial production fell a calendar adjusted 3.7 percent in November, faster than the 1.6 percent drop in the prior month. This was also the third straight decline in a row.