Global| Aug 10 2007Industrial Production Slips and Slows in France
Summary
For the second quarter as whole, industrial production is off in France at a 1% pace. This drop is led by weakness in auto output that has fallen at a 9.2% annual rate in the quarter. But the output of consumer goods and intermediate [...]
For the second quarter as whole, industrial production is off in France at a 1% pace. This drop is led by weakness in auto output that has fallen at a 9.2% annual rate in the quarter. But the output of consumer goods and intermediate goods has gone flat in the quarter. Capital goods output is still expanding at a slightly slower 1.3% annual rate in Q2 over Q1. IP had risen by 3.8% (saar) in Q1 with auto output up by 10.7 (saar) in the quarter.
For June itself the intermediate goods sector is the most surprising with output falling by 1.4% adding to the weakness in often volatile autos where output is off by an even sharper 2.3%. For autos it is the second monthly drop in a row. For intermediate goods the drop comes after a gain of 0.7% in May.
| Saar except m/m | Jun-07 | May-07 | Apr-07 | 3-mo | 6-mo | 12-mo |
| IP total | -0.5% | 0.5% | -1.0% | -3.8% | -0.2% | -0.8% |
| Consumer goods | 0.2% | 1.0% | -1.1% | 0.0% | 2.7% | 1.0% |
| Capital goods | 0.9% | 0.1% | -0.7% | 1.1% | 3.3% | 0.7% |
| Intermediate goods | -1.4% | 0.7% | -0.5% | -4.8% | -2.4% | -1.3% |
| Memo | ||||||
| Auto | -2.3% | -2.7% | 0.7% | -16.2% | -4.4% | -6.9% |
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
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