German factory orders up again in November

Retail sales drop in Nov for third straight month

FRANKFURT, Jan 7, (AFP): German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for goods in Europe’s top economy, rose in October, driven by robust domestic demand, the economy ministry said on Thursday.

Provisional official data showed an increase in orders of 1.5 percent month-on-month in November, following an increase of 1.7 percent in October.

Analysts polled by financial services firm FactSet had pencilled in stable orders for November.

The rise was attributable to stronger demand at home for German-made goods, with domestic orders rising by 2.6 percent, the ministry calculated.

Orders from outside the eurozone increased by 1.4 percent, while orders from inside the single currency area slipped by 0.5 percent.

German retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, inched higher in November, suggesting consumer sentiment in Europe’s top economy is holding steady, official data showed on Thursday.

Retailers’ sales edged up by 0.2 percent in November compared with October, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.

The previous month, retail sales had slipped by 0.1 percent.

On a 12-month basis, business increased even more strongly, jumping by 2.3 percent in November compared with the same month loast year, the statisticians calculated.

Based on the data for the 11 months to November, retail sales for the whole of 2015 were expected to rise by between 2.8 percent and 3.1 percent, Destatis added.