German industrial orders edge up in September
Frankfurt (AFP) - German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for German-made goods, edged slightly higher in September, suggesting that Europe's biggest economy will escape a new recession, data showed on Thursday.
Industrial orders rose by 0.8 percent in September compared with the previous month, the statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
In August, German factory orders had slumped by 4.2 percent.
The muted rise was partly due to the timing of the summer holidays, but an above-average number of big ticket orders provided a boost, the statisticians said in a statement.
Taking the third quarter as a whole, to iron out short-term fluctuations, factory orders were stable, inching up by 0.1 percent in the period from July to September.
Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz said "the evidence is mounting that Germany will probably not have a mild technical recession."
UniCredit economist Andreas Rees agreed.
"While the German economy has embarked on a cyclical slowdown in the second half of this year, a massive (and sustained) contraction is unlikely," he said.
"It is true that the latest increase only resembles a mini-rebound after the plunge in the previous month. Furthermore, it was significantly below the consensus. However, we do not think that there is any reason to be overly disappointed."
Commerzbank economist Marco Wagner was less optimistic.
"The trend still points down. After the likely slight contraction of gross domestic product in the third quarter, no notable expansion is to be expected for the fourth quarter, either," he said.
BayernLB economist Stefan Kipar also believed that the German economy "won't collapse in the winter."
Nevertheless, "the data suggest that growth momentum won't be particularly strong at least until the spring," he said.
