Euro zone factory orders recover
New factory orders in the euro zone, which covers 16 different countries, increased by 0.9% between March and April 2010 with a year on year increase of around 22.1%. While the annual increase is pretty much in line with analyst forecasts the monthly increase was below expectations of 1.8%. So what does this mean for the euro zone?
On the surface these figures look very impressive and would seem to indicate an ongoing recovery in European markets, however, all may not be as it seems!
As the annual increase certainly shows, these figures are compared against a relatively low base from last year when the European markets were going through a very difficult patch. It is the month on month increase which has surprised analysts and would appear to indicate a potential weakening in the euro zone trading environment. This would seem to be in line with many analyst expectations of a difficult trading period for the euro zone which has been impacted by the Greek problem and money market issues.
Despite the fact that the UK is not officially part of the euro zone, although a prominent part of the European Union, there is much trade between the two different entities. If the euro zone was to weaken in the latter part of 2010 it is almost inevitable that the UK would also feel the pain. Would this have an impact on George Osborne's economic forecast for the future?
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