Euro-Area Industrial Production Drops Most in 2 1/2 Years

European industrial production declined the most in 2 1/2 years in September, led by capital and consumer goods, as the sovereign-debt crisis pushed the economy toward a recession.

Production in the 17-nation euro area dropped 2 percent from August, when it rose 1.4 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a drop of 2.3 percent, according to the median of 35 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, September production increased 2.2 percent.