Eurozone output posts surprise fall in January

ndustrial production in the eurozone posted a surprise fall in January underlining the fragile state of the region's economy, data released Wednesday showed. According to dpa, output in the currency bloc fell for the second consecutive month, contracting by 0.2 per cent after declining by an upwardly revised 0.4 per cent in December, the European Union statistics office said. "January's eurozone industrial production figures got the year off to a disappointingly soft start and underline the fragility of the recovery in both industry and the broader economy," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist with the Capital Economics research group. Analysts had expected the data would show industrial production rebounded in January by 0.5 per cent from an originally estimated fall of 0.7 per cent in December.