European Data Signal Big GDP Drop

Record slumps in French and Italian industrial production during March suggest the euro-zone economic contraction in the first three months of the year will be the sharpest ever.

Italian industrial output fell 24% in March from the same month a year earlier, while French industrial production fell 16% over the same span.

The dismal figures had economists rushing to mark down their projections for euro-zone gross domestic product in the first quarter, which is to be officially announced Friday.

The latest forecasts point to GDP contracting by between 2% and 2.5% from the previous quarter - around three times the pace recorded in the recession of the early 1990s - and by more than 4% from the same period a year earlier.