By Xavier Fontdegloria
Manufacturing orders in Germany increased in October after falling the previous two months, a sign demand for goods could be slightly recovering.
Factory orders rose 0.8% in October compared with the previous month, according to price-adjusted data from the German statistics office Destatis released Tuesday.
The increase beats the 0.2% rise expected by economists in a poll by The Wall Street Journal.
In September, orders fell by 2.9%, less than the 4% drop initially estimated.
The gain was driven by higher foreign orders, which increased 2.5% compared with the previous month, while domestic orders fell 1.9%, according to Destatis. Orders for capital goods gained 3.2%, while those for consumer goods dropped 6.3% on month.
Germany’s manufacturing sector, a key industrial powerhouse in Europe, is struggling with sluggish orders in recent months due to weakening demand amid a global economic slowdown. Even as the threat of gas shortages in the industry has eased, high energy costs, elevated inflation and an uncertain economic outlook post headwinds to the sector, surveys to manufacturers showed.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
