Eurozone Industrial Output Falls More Than Expected in January

Eurozone industrial production fell by 0.4 percent in January, taking the annual decline to -1.3 percent, as the world's biggest economic bloc continues to struggle to exit recession.

The surprise decline was led by a 1.4 percent decline in durable goods productions, the region's official statistics agency Eurostat said Wednesday in the monthy release. Capital goods production fell by 1.2 percent from the previous month while energy production declined by 1 percent.

On a country basis, the largest decline - 4.1 percent - was recorded in Finland while the largest increase in the Eurozone was the +3.5 percent measured in Portugal.

Eurostat also revised its December reading of industrial output higher, to 0.9 percent from November, taking the annual decline during the final month of 2012 to -1.7 percent from a previous -2.4 percent.