German industry orders swell in September
Industrial orders in Europe’s largest economy Germany swelled in September, official data showed Wednesday, in a bright spot among forward-looking data weighed down by trade wars.
New contracts increased 1.3 percent month-on-month, federal statistics authority Destatis said in seasonally-adjusted data, beating analysts’ forecasts of zero expansion.
Counting out the effect of large orders for items like aircraft, which can distort underlying trends, the increase was even sharper, at 1.5 percent.
“Over the full third quarter, there was a reduction in order intake of one percent,” the economy ministry said in a statement.
Nevertheless, September’s rise “points to a rather favourable starting position for the final quarter” of 2019, the ministry added, pointing also to brightening business confidence indicators.
Surveys of optimism among investors and business leaders had darkened as trade conflicts between the US, Europe and China weighed on expectations, but hints of a truce have lifted spirits in recent weeks.
Looking in more detail at the orders data, orders from Germany’s eurozone neighbourhood fell back, while domestic contracts and business from the rest of the world expanded.
Capital goods and consumer goods firms both reported swelling order books, while there was falling demand for producer goods.
September’s result “looks like a really good figure... the downturn is not persisting for now, although there remains a shortage of new drivers for growth,” said analyst Jens-Oliver Niklasch of LBBW bank.
Comments