German Industrial Production Unexpectedly Fell in December
- Production down 1.2% in December vs estimate for 0.5% gain
- Consumer and energy indexes showed slowdown from prior month
Blades sit on F-class turbines on the assembly line of Siemens AG's gas turbine factory in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. Siemens, Europe's largest engineering company, criticized the U.K. government for creating uncertainty in the energy industry, saying it hampers investment in gas plants, wind farms and factories.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergGerman industrial production unexpectedly fell for a second month in December, a sign that a slowdown in major export markets is holding back factory activity despite strong domestic demand.
Output, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, fell 1.2 percent from November, when it declined by a revised 0.1 percent, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed on Tuesday. The reading, which tends to be volatile, compares with a median estimate for a 0.5 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists.