French Industrial Output June 2007

Hard to know how to read this latest data from France. Obviously someone somewhere is feeling the pressure:

Industrial production in France, Europe's third-largest economy, unexpectedly fell in June, led by declines in the output of cars and consumer goods.

Production at factories, utilities and mines dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from May, when it rose a revised 0.5 percent, Insee, the national statistics office, said today in Paris. Economists expected a gain of 0.4 percent in June. For the second quarter, industrial output fell 0.3 percent from the prior three months and was unchanged from a year earlier.

Higher interest rates and increased energy prices are weighing on consumer confidence in France at a time when the euro's advance to a record against the dollar and the yen last month threatens to curb exports. France's economic growth is trailing behind the euro-area average for a third straight year.