Germany: Industrial production increased by 0.7% in February - ING

Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING, notes that the German industrial production increased by 0.7% MoM in February, from an upwardly revised flat reading in January.

Key Quotes

“On the year, industrial production was still down by 0.4%. While the headline number seems to provide some relief, the components show that activity in the manufacturing sector actually dropped by 0.2% MoM, while activity in the construction sector surged by 6.8% MoM.”

“Looking ahead, the big question of this week is how to read the combination of devastating new orders and today’s rebound in industrial orders. In fact, it is very easy: today’s positive data were driven by the construction sector not by the manufacturing sector and more generally speaking today’s new orders are tomorrow’s industrial production.”