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In Germany, factory orders rose 4.8% in February from January, compared with a 0.5% gain in January. On the year, orders are still down by almost 6%. After a slump since last summer, industrial orders have recovered in recent months.
Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, said:
Industrial orders have now rebounded sharply since November, brightening the outlook for German industry. However, the US slowdown and the longer-term fallout from recent financial turmoil, as well as the broader impact of monetary policy tightening, could still spoil the party.
These strong industrial orders data fuel recent optimism in German industry. Interestingly, production expectations had just started to weaken again after the initial enthusiasm over the Chinese reopening at the start of the year.
