Germany’s factory orders unexpectedly rise in July

The Federal Statistical Office’s (Destatis) report revealed Monday that new orders in the German manufacturing sector rose by 3.4 percent m-o-m in the seasonally terms in July, following an upwardly revised 4.6 percent m-o-m surge in June (originally a 4.1 percent m-o-m jump). Compared with February 2020, which was the month before coronavirus restrictions were imposed in Germany, new orders were 15.7 percent higher.

Economists had forecast a drop of a 1.0 percent m-o-m.

According to the report, the July marked m-o-m advance was caused by major orders. Excluding major orders, there was a decline of 0.2 percent m-o-m.

In other survey results, the domestic orders rose 2.5 percent m-o-m in July. Meanwhile, foreign orders surged 8.0 percent m-o-m as a 4.1 percent m-o-m fall in new orders from the euro area was more than offset by a 15.7 percent m-o-m climb in new orders from other countries.

New orders for intermediate goods decreased 0.5 percent m-o-m in July, while orders for consumer goods jumped 7.5 m-o-m and the orders for capital goods surged 5.4 percent m-o-m.

On y-o-y basis, factory orders were up 24.4 percent in July.