Euro Area Industrial Orders Rise 0.1%; Norway

Arthi Gupta
23 Mar, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone industrial new orders rose more than estimated in January. German leading indicator rose in January. Hungarian retail sales increased in January. Danish consumer confidence deteriorated in March. Swedish economic sentiment indicator dropped in March.

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone industrial new orders rose more than estimated in January. German leading indicator rose in January. Hungarian retail sales increased in January. Danish consumer confidence deteriorated in March. Swedish economic sentiment indicator dropped in March.[/R]

Euro-zone Industrial New Orders Rise

Euro-zone industrial new orders growth slowed more than expected in January, as demand for capital and non-durable consumer goods dropped.

New orders rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in January following the upwardly revised 2.7% increase in December, data released by Eurostat showed on Wednesday.

On an annual basis, industrial new orders rose 20.9% in January compared to December''s revised 19.2% growth.

German Leading Indicator Rises

The leading economic indicator for Germany climbed 0.4% on a monthly basis to 106.8 in January from 106.4 in December, the Conference Board said on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said five of the seven components of the LEI contributed positively. Yield spread and new orders in investment goods industries had major contribution.

The coincident economic indicator, a measure of current economic activity, also increased 0.4% in January to 105.3.

Hungarian Retail Sales Up

Hungary''s retail sales edged up a calendar-adjusted 0.1% annually in January following a 1.7% drop in December, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed on Wednesday. Sales increased for the first time since September last year.

On a monthly basis, retail sales increased a calendar-and-seasonally adjusted 0.7% in January after a 0.6% fall in December.

Danish Consumer Confidence Worsens

Confidence among Danish consumers deteriorated in March as their assessment of the current economic situation worsened, data from Statistics Denmark showed on Wednesday.

The consumer confidence indicator dropped to minus 8 in March from minus 5 in February. The indicator measuring Danish consumers'' expectations regarding the country''s economic health dropped to 5.8 in March from 8.7 in February.

Swedish Economic Sentiment Drops

Swedish economic sentiment indicator dropped to 112.7 in March from 114 in February, survey results from the National Institute of Economic Research showed.

Retailers'' confidence also decreased in March, with a fall in the index to 15 from 16 recorded in February.

Norway Jobless Rate Drops

The Norwegian jobless rate was at 3.2% in January, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points since October 2010, Statistics Norway said on Wednesday. The labor force survey showed that the number of unemployed persons decreased by 7,000 from October 2010 to January 2011.