German Industrial Orders Leap In December

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Feb 6, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 06th Feb, 2017 ) - Industrial orders in Europe's largest economy Germany jumped in December, data released Monday showed, beating predictions and suggesting that economic good times will continue into 2017.

Firms received 5.2 percent more orders in the final month of last year, correcting for seasonal effects, the Federal statistics office Destatis said. Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted the figure would creep up by 0.7 percent.

Most of December's boost was down to large contracts, with the increase at just 0.4 percent if they were excluded. Destatis also released updated data showing that a fall in industrial orders in November had been sharper than expected, at 3.

6 percent rather than 2.5 percent.

All of December's rise in contracts came from industrial goods makers, whose order books expanded 9.7 percent while producer goods and consumer goods both fell back slightly. Domestic demand was the most powerful driver of the increase, adding 6.7 percent over November compared with 3.9 percent for foreign contracts.

Orders from Germany's eurozone neighbours grew by 10 percent, while custom from the rest of the world remained flat. "The trend in orders continues to point upwards," the economy ministry in Berlin commented, pointing to a "strong increase" in the final quarter of 2017.