— Trevor Balchin, IHS Markit
According to the Federal Statistics Office, German manufacturing orders rose more than analysts estimated. The number of seasonally-adjusted industrial orders in March surged 1.0%, while most of the experts anticipated only a 0.7% increase. Despite the growth was 2.5% lower than in the previous month, it still remained a signal that the leading European economy develops at a healthy pace. Sower growth came in mainly due to weaker domestic demand, which plunged 3.8%, as a result of stronger pressure on wage growth and selling prices. In terms of products, the weakest interest was shown in the intermediate goods, orders for which fell 3.7%. However, it was not enough to offset the surging exports, which increased 4.8%. Namely, bookings from the Euro zone countries soared 6.8%, following a sharp decrease of 8.1% in February. Such difference to a certain extent was influenced by uncertainty associated with anticipation of an official adoption of the Brexit bill and the French Presidential Election.
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