Forexpros – Industrial new orders in the euro zone dropped more-than-expected in January, giving back some of the previous month’s strong gain, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, Eurostat said that industrial new orders tumbled by a seasonally adjusted 2.3% in January, compared to expectations for a 2.1% drop.
Industrial new orders for December were revised up to a 3.5% gain from a previously reported 1.9% increase.
The report showed that the annualized rate of industrial new orders in the euro zone fell 3.3% in January from a year earlier, worse than expectations for a 3.1% decline, after dropping at a rate of 1.7% in the previous month.
Following the release of the data, the euro remained lower against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD shedding 0.41% to trade at 1.3162.
Meanwhile, European stock markets held on to losses following the weak data. The EURO STOXX 50 tumbled 1.5%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.6%, London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.85%, while Germany’s DAX sank 1.4%.
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