German factories rebound
Source: Bloomberg News |
April 9, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GERMAN industrial output rebounded in February, adding to signs that Europe's largest economy is stabilizing after a contraction in the fourth quarter.
Production rose 0.5 percent from January, when it shrank 0.6 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said yesterday. Economists forecast a 0.3 percent gain, according to the median of 41 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, production dropped 1.8 percent when adjusted for working days.
Germany's economy probably returned to growth in the first quarter after it shrank 0.6 percent in the final three months of 2012. Still, business sentiment in Germany dropped in March amid renewed concerns about the sovereign debt crisis and its impact on the 17-nation euro economy, which is struggling to emerge from recession.
"After a period of deflating in the second half of last year, German industry has stabilized again," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Belgium SA in Brussels. "The stabilization, however, is not automatically followed by a sharp rebound of industrial activity. The harsh winter weather has not only affected the construction sector but industry as a whole."
Manufacturing output rose 0.5 percent in February, with production of investment goods up 2.4 percent, the report showed. Energy production surged 3.9 percent while construction activity dropped 2.7 percent. January output was previously reported as flat.
In Asia, Japan posted its first current-account surplus in four months in February, while a measure of sentiment matched a record high in March as a falling yen, rising stocks and central-bank stimulus bolster the outlook for the world's third-biggest economy.
Back in Germany, the ministry said "industrial production remains subdued."
Production rose 0.5 percent from January, when it shrank 0.6 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said yesterday. Economists forecast a 0.3 percent gain, according to the median of 41 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, production dropped 1.8 percent when adjusted for working days.
Germany's economy probably returned to growth in the first quarter after it shrank 0.6 percent in the final three months of 2012. Still, business sentiment in Germany dropped in March amid renewed concerns about the sovereign debt crisis and its impact on the 17-nation euro economy, which is struggling to emerge from recession.
"After a period of deflating in the second half of last year, German industry has stabilized again," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Belgium SA in Brussels. "The stabilization, however, is not automatically followed by a sharp rebound of industrial activity. The harsh winter weather has not only affected the construction sector but industry as a whole."
Manufacturing output rose 0.5 percent in February, with production of investment goods up 2.4 percent, the report showed. Energy production surged 3.9 percent while construction activity dropped 2.7 percent. January output was previously reported as flat.
In Asia, Japan posted its first current-account surplus in four months in February, while a measure of sentiment matched a record high in March as a falling yen, rising stocks and central-bank stimulus bolster the outlook for the world's third-biggest economy.
Back in Germany, the ministry said "industrial production remains subdued."
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