German factory orders rebounded at the fastest pace in five months underpinned by both domestic and foreign demand in December.
Factory orders grew a seasonally and working-day adjusted 4.2 percent month-on-month in December, reversing a revised 2.4 percent fall in November, figures from Destatis showed Thursday.
The latest order growth was the strongest since July, when demand rose 4.8 percent. The growth also exceeded a 1.5 percent rise expected by economists.
On a yearly basis, orders rose 3.4 percent in December, rebounding from a 0.4 percent drop in November. The annual growth rate was also faster than the expected growth of 0.7 percent.
The economy ministry said the volume of new orders reached its highest level since April 2008. The economy is gaining momentum and the downturn of the past year has been overcome, the ministry added.
The strong development of orders in recent months points to a noticeably stronger increase in coming months, Ralph Solveen, an analyst at Commerzbank said. The stagnation of the German economy in the summer half was just a weak spot which has now been overcome thanks to the weaker euro and lower oil price.
Domestic orders climbed 3.4 percent on month in December and orders from export market surged by 4.8 percent.
New orders from the euro area rose 5.9 percent from the previous month and bookings from other countries gained by 4.0 percent.
Manufacturers of intermediate goods recorded increases in new orders of 2.8 percent and orders of capital goods grew by 5.7 percent. Meanwhile, demand for consumer goods registered a fall of 0.6 percent.
The German construction sector contracted at the start of 2015 due to a drop in output as commercial and civil engineering activity fell further, data from Markit showed today. The Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 49.5 in January from 50.5 in December.
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