European Industrial Orders Increase on Intermediate Goods

European industrial orders increased for a fourth month in January, led by demand for intermediate goods such as car engines and steel, adding to signs the economy is gathering strength.

Orders in the euro area rose 0.1 percent from December, when they increased 2.7 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a gain of 1 percent, the median of 15 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Orders jumped 21 percent from a year earlier.