IN BRIEF (Page 16)

French production falls

French industrial production tumbled for a fifth month in December as auto output plunged, pointing to a deepening recession and rising unemployment.

Output at factories and utilities fell 1.8 percent from the previous month when production declined a revised 2.8 percent, Insee, the Paris-based statistics office, said today. The drop matched the median forecast of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Auto output fell 44.6 percent over the year, the biggest annual drop since the series began 18 years ago.