23 JANUARY 2012

Order books in the Euro area dipped -1.3% in November month-on-month according to Eurostat latest data, hammered by a lack of industrial confidence during the single currency region most severe political crisis as November brought serious concerns about the Euro's sustainability following resignations from each Greece's and Italy's prime ministers, trading markets extreme volatility, record high bond yields spreads, and corporate as well as sovereign credit rating downgrades until panic deflated at the end of the month thanks to the European Central Bank (ECB) joint liquidity currency (USD) providing operations with the aim to allow financial flows to reinvigorate the real economy. Massive demonstrations, particularly in Greece and the UK, against austerity measures added to fears about the region's explosive cum-bedlam monthly context.

As a result, new orders of Capital Goods, the region's best of class, dipped -2.1% as economic partners cautious wait-and-see stance dented the previous month rebound. Intermediate Goods followed suit and fell -1.3% while inversely new orders of Durable Consumer Goods rose to +0.9% from negative territory, just in time ahead of the Christmas season. Non Durable Consumer Goods increased the most, +1.7% to face demand.

The region's heavy economic weights order books levels reflected industrialists moods: export-led Germany recorded -5% order books gap, the country's hardest fall in the last six months. Italy's gauge contracted an additional half percentage point and fell -1.5%. In Spain, new orders climbed to -0.8% while the UK‘s index, Europe's fifth largest economy, was slashed over threefold to +0.9%. 

In one year, the overall index recorded its first negative performance in six months and dipped -2.7% mechanically pushed down by all sectors except Non Durable Consumer Goods +4.2% order books surge. New orders of Capital Goods performed equally to the overall index and fell -3.9%, Intermediate Goods dipped -2.8% and Durable Consumer Goods -4.2%. Germany's index fell -3%, Italy's -2.3%, Spain's -3.3% and the UK's moved down by nearly two percentage points to +7.8%.