Germany's factory orders unexpectedly grew for a second straight month in September, led by domestic demand, suggesting improvement in the economic momentum ahead.
Manufacturing new orders rose a price, calendar and seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent month-on-month in September, following a 2.5 percent growth in August, which was revised from 2 percent, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed on Tuesday. Economists had forecast a 0.5 percent decline.
Domestic orders increased 2.8 percent from the previous month, while foreign bookings fell 1.4 percent. Orders from the euro area increased 2.4 percent, but non-EU demand fell 3.7 percent.
On year-on-year basis, factory orders fell 2.2 percent in September after a 1.8 percent slump in August, which was revised from 2.1 percent. Economists were looking for a 2.8 percent decrease from a year ago.
New orders declined 1 percent for the third quarter, the economy ministry said.
The order situation in August and September suggest that the temporary registration hold up in the automotive industry is slowly dissipating due to the new test regulations for passenger cars, the ministry said.
This development, with a still extraordinarily high order backlog, indicates that the growth forces in the manufacturing sector will regain their upper hand in the fourth quarter, the ministry added.
"It is the first time this year that industrial orders increased in two consecutive months," ING Bank economist Carsten Brzeski said.
"In times when pessimism has the upper hand, this positive news from German industry brings some glimmers of hope. That said, just as we didn't get carried away by the soft patch earlier this year, we won't start celebrating monthly new orders data just yet."
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