By Ed Frankl
German manufacturing orders unexpectedly jumped in December, a sign that the recent struggles of the country's industrial sector might be fading as Berlin's fiscal stimulus ramps up.
Orders climbed 7.8% on month, accelerating from the 5.7% rise in November, statistics agency Destatis said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a drop of 1.3% for December.
Factory orders have now climbed for four straight months. Orders were 9.5% higher in the final quarter of last year than in the third, Destatis said.
Germany's government last year agreed to unlock as much as $1 trillion in investments in defense and for infrastructure, a factor that some economists have said is now bearing fruit in improving industrial data.
Much of December's increase came through large-scale orders valued at more than 50 million euros, or $59 million. Without them, orders rose 0.9%, the data showed.
Orders growth was strongest in fabricated metals and in the manufacture of machinery and equipment. By contrast, orders in Germany's car sector declined, Destatis said.
New orders in a basket of transport items that included aircraft, ships, and military vehicles fell sharply compared with November, though Destatis said "sizeable large-scale orders were again recorded here".
Industrial production data for France showed a 0.7% decline in output in December, although was up by 0.3% on quarter in the last three months of the year. German industrial production figures are due to be published Friday.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-05-26 0306ET
