German Factory Orders Jump in Encouraging Sign for Outlook
German Factory Orders Jump in Encouraging Sign for Outlook
(Bloomberg) -- German factory orders rebounded in August on surging export demand for investment goods, suggesting the outlook for Europe’s largest economy remains relatively strong despite trade risks.
Orders jumped 2 percent from the previous month, more than forecast by economists. The increase in the volatile series is only the second this year, after demand for German-manufactured goods suffered amid quarrels with the U.S. over protectionist policies. Orders were down 2.1 percent on the year.
The Bundesbank is still optimistic that momentum in Germany’s economy is fundamentally intact, underpinned by solid domestic fundamentals. But sentiment has suffered from threats of a global trade war. Manufacturing activity slowed to the weakest pace in more than two years in September, according to purchasing managers
| Domestic orders | -2.9% |
| Export orders | 5.8% |
| Basic-goods orders | -0.1% |
| Investment-goods orders | 3.4% |
| Non euro-area investment goods | 13.7% |
| Consumer-goods demand | 2.1% |
“The strong order increase from outside the euro area shows that German industrial goods continue to be in demand globally, irrespective of trade conflicts,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement. “A positive economic trend should take the upper hand again in the fourth quarter.”
Data for industrial production in August are due on Monday.
--With assistance from Kristian Siedenburg, Catarina Saraiva and Harumi Ichikura.
To contact the reporter on this story: Carolynn Look in Frankfurt at clook4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.