Germany’s factory orders rebounded at a stronger-than-expected pace in August reflecting the robust expansion in demand for computing, electronic and optical products. <\/p>\n
Factory orders registered a monthly growth of 3.9 percent, in contrast to the 11.3 percent decrease in July, Destatis reported Friday. Moreover, the rate was much better than economists’ forecast of 1.8 percent growth. <\/p>\n
Excluding major orders, manufacturing orders were 3.9 percent bigger than in July.<\/p>\n
Year-on-year, the decline in manufacturing orders slowed to 4.2 percent from 10.1 percent in July, data showed. <\/p>\n
The strong monthly growth in new orders was driven by higher demand for data processing equipment, electronic and optical products. <\/p>\n
New orders in the intermediate goods sector advanced 9.3 percent and orders for consumer goods moved up 8.8 percent. Capital goods orders grew only 0.1 percent.<\/p>\n
Data showed that foreign orders were up 3.9 percent on month and domestic orders posted a 4.0 percent gain. <\/p>\n
Real turnover in manufacturing climbed 0.4 percent in August from the previous month, reversing a revised 0.9 percent drop in July. <\/p>\n
Ralph Solveen, Commerzbank senior economist said incoming orders stabilized after a two-year decline. This itself improves the outlook for the coming months. <\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he noted that the trend in sentiment indicators continues to point downwards. The economist expects Germany to contract again in the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n