Bert Colijn, the senior economist at ING, notes that Eurozone’s industrial output bounced back by 0.9% in May after a weak start to the year.

• “The May data surprised somewhat on the upside, mainly due to a strong performance in France and some recovery in Germany and Italy. The growth was broad-based, with only production in intermediate goods declining on the month, while consumer goods production grew at above 2% for both durable and nondurable goods production.
• Still, industrial production is a very volatile indicator and after the poor April data, industry also needs to have grown at a decent pace in June in order for a contraction to be averted over the whole of 2Q.
• For the ECB, this rounds out a batch of data that will have brought mixed feelings about the state of the eurozone economy. It seems likely that growth will have slowed significantly in 2Q, making 1Q a positive exception more than the rule when looking at the recent growth path.”