Industrial output from factories in the US fell by 0.5pc in March from the previous month - the biggest fall since December 2002. The decline in industrial output for March - the sixth fall in production in the last eight months - was considerably larger than expected, with analysts predicting that the decline would be closer to 0.3pc. During February, industrial output fell a revised 0.1pc compared with the previous estimate of a 0.1pc increase.
While the year-on-year figures for factory output rose by 0.5pc, manufacturing output fell 0.2pc in March, after declining 0.3pc in February led by a drop in car production. The manufacturing sector has been struggling to recover from a long decline that began even before the broader economic recession that started in March 2001. ///www.fxcentre.com