Italy's Nov industry output beats expectations, rises 0.7 pct m/m in Nov

Italian industrial production rose 0.7 percent month-over-month in November, beating median forecast in Reuters poll for a 0.3 percent gain, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Thursday. Data compared to a revised 0.1 percent rise in the previous month.

On an annual, work-day adjusted basis industrial output was up 3.2 percent in November. Output in the three months to November was up 0.9 percent compared with the June-to-August period.

Separately, Istat reported last month Italy's manufacturing confidence index rose in December to the highest in a year. Istat’s leading indicator signaled an extension of Italy’s recovery with “a positive prospect of the economic-growth pace in the next months,” the statistics agency said in a Dec. 30 report.

Better-than-expected rise in Italian industrial production in November suggests a possible acceleration in economic activity. Meanwhile, after a triple-dip recession between 2008 and 2014, Italy's industrial production has recovered only a small part of that over the last year.