Factories in the euro zone saw demand rebound in January much more strongly than economists had expected, official EU data shows today.
Overall new industrial orders in the euro zone surged by 2% in January from the December level and jumped 7.3% over the same month in 2007, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.
The result far exceeded economists' forecast for orders to dip 0.5% over one month and rise 4.5% from January 2007. It also marked a rebound from a soft spot in December when orders dropped 3.6% over one month and increased 2.2% over one year.
There has been widespread worry among politicans in Europe about the effect of the strong euro, which has risen against the dollar and other currencies, on the competitiveness of European companies.
January's strength was driven by a 6.2% jump in volatile orders for transport equipment although machinery and other equipment also saw strong demand, up 2.4%.
In the 27-nation EU, new industrial orders eased 1% in January and rose 6.7% over one year.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank said today that the euro zone payments current account had an estimated deficit of €10.6 billion in January.
The current account deficit - the widest measure of euro zone trade and financial transactions with countries outside the 15-nation area - came in higher than the €7 billion forecast. Provisional ECB figures are often subject to marked revisions however, and make comparisons difficult.
