FRANKFURT -- German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for German-made goods both at home and abroad, rose sharply in November, suggesting recovery in Europe's top economy is intact, analysts said on Wednesday.
Industrial orders rose by 2.1% month-on-month in November, buoyed by an above average number of big-ticket orders, the economy ministry said. Analysts had been projecting a more modest increase of around 1.5% in November.
Demand for German-made goods increased both at home and abroad, with domestic orders rising by 1.9% and export orders up 2.2%, the data showed.
By sector, orders for semi-finished goods edged up by 0.4%, orders for capital goods climbed by 3.2% and orders for consumer goods rose by 2.1%.
Taking October and November combined to iron out short-term fluctuations, overall orders were up 0.4%, with domestic orders falling by 1.5% but exports orders climbing by 1.8% the ministry calculated.
While economic data were mixed for October, most indicators for November have been pointing up.
"November was a good month for the German economy," said Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz.
"After a subdued start into the fourth quarter in October in the hard data, almost all indicators turned up in November and are more in line with strong sentiment surveys, which point to a strong finish to the year," the expert said.
Post-election uncertainty was fading quickly and concerns about the euro crisis were on the back-burner, so companies were increasing orders and investment, Schulz said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
