German Orders Drop 2.7%; Swiss Jobless Rate Flat

Arthi Gupta
07 Mar, 2012
New York City

German orders declined and industrial production was mixed in the euro area in January. Swiss jobless rate remained flat and Sweden recorded a budget surplus in February. The National Bank of Poland held key lending rate.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – German orders declined and industrial production was mixed in the euro area in January. Swiss jobless rate remained flat and Sweden recorded a budget surplus in February. The National Bank of Poland held key lending rate.[/R]

German Orders Drop

German industrial orders declined 2.7% in January from a month ago, following a 1.6% rise in December, the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology said today.

Swiss Jobless Rate Flat

Switzerland''s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.1% after adjusting to seasonal variations in February, data released by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed.

The number of registered unemployed decreased 1,163 from the previous month to 133,154 at the end of February.

Spanish Output Drops

Spanish industrial production declined 4.2% in January compared to the 3.5% fall in December, the statistic office INE said.

Production of capital goods fell 6% and intermediate goods declined 5.7% in January.

Hungary Production Falls

Industrial production in Hungary decreased a working-day adjusted 2.7% on an annual basis in January, reversing the revised 6.9% growth in December, preliminary data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

On a monthly basis, industrial production increased a seasonally and working-day adjusted 2.1% in January from the 7.3% decline in December.

Norwegian Industrial Output Rises

Industrial production in Norway rose a working-day adjusted 3% from a year ago in January, according to data released by Statistics Norway.

Output of intermediate goods advanced 8.8% annually, while capital goods production climbed 9.4% in January.

Separately, Norway''s current account surplus increased in the fourth quarter to NOK 107 billion from NOK 97 billion in the third quarter.

The surplus on the current account balance was NOK 396 billion in 2011, NOK 82 billion higher than in 2010.

Danish Production Improves

Industrial production in Denmark increased 4.6% from a year ago in January, data released by Statistics Denmark showed today.

On a monthly basis, production climbed 1.8% in January.

Swedish Budget Surplus

Sweden''s central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 32.5 billion in February compared to a deficit of SEK 14.6 billion in January, the Swedish National Debt Office said today.

Polish Central Bank Holds Rate

The National Bank of Poland maintained its reference rate at 4.50% for the ninth consecutive month.

The lombard rate and deposit rate remain unchanged at 6% and 3%, respectively. The rediscount rate was held at 4.75%.