Europe Industrial Orders Increase More Than Forecast

European industrial orders increased more than twice as much as economists forecast in August, led by demand for capital goods such as machinery.

Orders in the 16-nation euro area jumped 5.3 percent from July, when they fell 1.8 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a gain of 2.2 percent, the median of 14 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. In the year, industrial orders rose 24 percent after rising 12 percent in July.