Italy industry output slumps in April, in latest sign…

ROME, June 11 (Reuters) – Italian industrial output fell 1.2 percent in April from the month before, posting the third drop in four months and adding to mounting signs of economic slowdown in the euro zone’s third largest economy. The fall in output in April was twice as steep as forecast in a Reuters survey of 13 analysts which had pointed to -0.6 percent, and fully reversed a 1.2 percent rebound in March. In the three months to April, output was down 0.7 percent compared with the November-to-January period, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Monday. Production of consumer goods, intermediate goods and energy products all fell in April from the month before, partly offset by an increase in investment goods. On a work-day adjusted year-on-year basis, output was still up 1.9 percent in April. That followed a 3.5 percent annual increase in March and was the smallest year-on-year rise since April 2017. Recent data has pointed to a slowing Italian economy, potentially making life difficult for the new anti-establishment government which took office this month. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose a quarterly 0.3 percent in the first quarter, slowing from 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2017. The annual growth rate of 1.4 percent was the slowest since the first quarter of 2017. Business confidence and surveys of activity in the manufacturing and services sectors have weakened steadily in the last few months. Italy’s previous government forecast in April that GDP would increase 1.5 percent in 2018. That would be in line with last year’s rate which was the strongest since 2010, but would leave Italy in its customary position among the euro zone’s most sluggish economies. Some economists are already beginning to lower their forecasts for Italy in the light of recent soft data. Retailers’ lobby Confcommercio forecast on Thursday that growth would come in at just 1.2 percent this year and slow to 1.1 percent in 2019. Italian industrial output fell by around a quarter during a steep double dip recession between 2008 and 2014, and has recovered only a small part of that during the last three years. ISTAT gave the following details. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION APRIL MARCH FEB Mth/mth pct change (adjusted) -1.2 1.2 -0.6r Yr/yr pct change (adjusted) 1.9 3.5r 2.5 Yr/yr pct change (unadjusted) 6.7 -1.1 2.4 NOTE: BASE 2010=100. (r) indicates revised figures. ISTAT provided the following breakdown by broad product group in April: adjusted month-on-month percent change Consumer goods -1.3 Investment goods 0.7 Intermediate goods -1.1 Energy goods -4.8

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