By Jon Sindreu
Industrial production in the 19 countries that share the euro is
likely to have risen in January after December's lull, economists
say.
Median forecasts by analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal
predict that factory output will increase by 0.2% on the month,
compared with flat growth in December, which reinforces signals of
the eurozone economy having a timid recovery.
The European Central Bank is due to launch Monday its program to
buy 1 trillion euros ($1.1 million) worth of sovereign bonds--a
policy known as quantitative easing--in an attempt to fight falling
prices and economic stagnation in the eurozone.
Analysts point out that since ECB President Mario Draghi
announced the scheme in January economic indicators have started to
pick up. Although still negative, inflation in the single currency
area recovered in February from the previous month. Forecasts for
French inflation data due Thursday also likely to show that prices
bounced back.
"The ECB's expansionary policy has started to bear fruit even
before the bank begins to buy government bonds," Tomas Holinka,
economist at Moody's Analytics, said Thursday.
Date GMT Indicator Period Forecast Previous
Mar 09 0800 GERMANY Trade balance Jan +EUR21.3B (6) +EUR21.8B
Mar 09 0800 GERMANY Current account Jan +EUR15.0B (5) +EUR25.3B
Mar 10 0845 FRANCE Industrial production Jan -0.4%MM (14) +1.5%MM
Mar 10 1000 ITALY Industrial production Jan +0.2%MM (12) +0.4%MM
Mar 10 1000 ITALY Industrial production Jan +0.2%YY (5) +0.1%YY
Mar 12 0800 GERMANY CPI final Feb +0.9%MM (15) +0.9%MMp/-1.1%MM
Mar 12 0800 GERMANY CPI final Feb +0.1%YY (17) +0.1%YYp/-0.4%YY
Mar 12 0800 GERMANY HCPI final Feb +1.0%MM (14) +1.0%MMp/-1.3%MM
Mar 12 0800 GERMANY HCPI final Feb -0.1%YY (14) -0.1%YYp/-0.5%YY
Mar 12 0845 FRANCE CPI Feb +0.6%MM (8) -1.0%MM
Mar 12 0845 FRANCE CPI Feb -0.4%YY (7) -0.4%YY
Mar 12 0900 SPAIN HCPI Feb -1.2%YY (9) -1.2%YYp/-1.5%YY
Mar 12 1100 EUROZONE Industrial production Jan +0.2%MM (24) +0.0%MM
Mar 12 1100 EUROZONE Industrial production Jan +0.1%YY (13) -0.2%YY
Mar 13 1000 ITALY CPI final Feb +0.3%MM (4) +0.3%MMp/-0.4%MM
Mar 13 1000 ITALY CPI final Feb -0.2%YY (4) -0.2%YYp/-0.6%YY
(Figures in parentheses refer to number of economists surveyed. p = preliminary)
Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com