Russian Industrial Production Unexpectedly Contracted in January

Russia’s industrial output unexpectedly contracted in January for the first time in more than three years, bolstering the case for interest-rate cuts.

Output at factories, mines and utilities shrank 0.8 percent from a year earlier, the first decline since October 2009, compared with a 1.4 percent advance in December, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said today in an e-mailed statement. The result trailed all 19 estimates in a Bloomberg survey, which forecast a median increase of 1.4 percent.