Factories in the 15 nations sharing the euro saw a surprise jump in new orders, although much of the improvement was due to orders for trains and planes, according to official EU data on Sept. 23. New industrial orders in the eurozone grew 1% in July from June and rose 1.6% compared with the same month in 2007.
The figures marked an improvement from June when new orders fell 0.5% over one month and slumped 7.2% over one year, according to revised figures from Eurostat.
However, much of the upturn in July was driven by a jump in orders for transport equipment, which includes such things as trains and airplanes and which can vary widely from one month to another. Transport equipment orders surged by 10% in July over one month and 4.8% over one year.
Meanwhile, in the 27-nation EU, new industrial orders rose 2.3% over one month in July and 2.8% over one year.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
