Falling industrial orders shade German picture of health

AFP,FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Industrial orders in Germany plunged 7.4 per cent in January, preliminary official data showed yesterday, troubling a largely bright picture of recovery in Europe’s largest economy.
New orders—a closely watched indicator of future economic performance—had increased 5.2 per cent in December, adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, federal statistics office Destatis confirmed.
Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted a much smaller fall in January of 2.5 percent.
“Today’s disappointing data is a good reminder that German industry is having more problems returning to full speed than buoyant sentiment indicators have been suggesting,” said economist Carsten Brzeski of ING Diba bank. January’s drop in new orders was the largest since 2009, he noted, following on from months of “almost unprecedented” fluctuations in the indicator since last summer.
But the government said there was no cause for alarm.
“The strong increase in orders in the final quarter of 2016 makes a weak start to the new year manageable,” the federal economy ministry in Berlin commented in a statement.
Comparing December plus January to October plus November showed a fall of just 0.4 per cent in orders, the civil servants pointed out. 
Berlin also highlighted strong confidence surveys among industrial firms, suggesting a pick-up in business in the coming months.

 

Falling industrial orders shade German picture of health

AFP,FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Industrial orders in Germany plunged 7.4 per cent in January, preliminary official data showed yesterday, troubling a largely bright picture of recovery in Europes largest economy. New ordersa closely watched indicator of future economic performancehad increased 5.2 per cent in December, adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, federal statistics office Destatis confirmed. Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted a much smaller fall in January of 2.5percent. Todays disappointing data is a good reminder that German industry is having more problems returning to full speed than buoyant sentiment indicators have been suggesting, said economist Carsten Brzeski of ING Diba bank. Januarys drop in new orders was the largest since 2009, he noted, following on from months of almost unprecedented fluctuations in the indicator since last summer. But the government said there was no cause for alarm. The strong increase in orders in the final quarter of 2016 makes a weak start to thenew year manageable, the federaleconomy ministry in Berlin commented in a statement. Comparing December plus January to October plus November showed a fall of just 0.4 per cent in orders, the civil servants pointed out. Berlin also highlighted strong confidence surveys among industrial firms, suggesting a pick-up in business in the coming months.