Data released on Thursday by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that factory orders in Germany – the largest economy in the Eurozone – experienced a sharp rebound in December, recording the highest growth rate in a full year.
According to the data, factory orders in Germany rose by 6.9% in December on a monthly basis compared to November, which was significantly better than market expectations that predicted a mere 1.9% growth in German factory orders. This came after a contraction of 5.2% was recorded in November, following a positive revision from a contraction of 5.4%.
However, factory orders in Germany saw a year-on-year contraction of 6.3% in December compared to December of the previous year. This represents the largest rate of contraction for German factory orders since June. The previous reading for November had recorded a growth of 1.4% in German factory orders.
