German factory orders rise 4.4 pct

Bloomberg

Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, rose 4.4 percent from April, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said Tuesday. That’s the biggest gain since June 2007 and nine times the 0.5 percent increase forecast by economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Orders were still 29.4 percent lower than a year earlier.

"Thankfully the worst is behind us and we are on track for a gradual recovery," said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Group in Brussels, who forecast a 4 percent gain. "The summer months will be crucial to see if the global recovery, on which German manufacturing depends, gathers momentum."

Global economic confidence improved for a third month in June, according to the Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence index.

The government expects the German economy, Europe’s largest, to shrink 6 percent in 2009.