French Factory Output Up 1.9%

France’s industrial output for October beat expectations after a surge in manufacturing equipment production, statistics showed Friday, MarketWatch reported. Industrial output in the eurozone’s second-largest economy rose 1.9% on-month in October, French statistics agency Insee said, outpacing the 0.2% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Insee also revised September’s figure upward to a 0.8% on-month increase from 0.6% previously. The strength of French industry in recent months indicates that the acceleration in economic growth over the past 12 months is set to continue at least until the end of the year. Confidence indicators in industry are also at their highest level in a decade. Friday’s statistics from Insee showed a particularly strong performance in manufacturing. Output in that segment rose 2.7% in October from September on a 6.1% increase in the production of equipment material. Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, said it was “a great start (the fourth quarter) for manufacturing” which went against “the trend in the rest of the eurozone of soft October data”.