‘Although growth of output, new orders and employment all eased, this was mostly offset by more evidence of supply chain pressures as input delivery times lengthened to the greatest extent in six years .’ – 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.
