Global| Mar 19 2008Italy Orders Rise in Month but Still Faltering Trend
Summary
Italy’s orders jumped sharply in January but only after an even larger fall in December. As a result the Q1 sales growth for orders in January over the Q4 average is a dismal -1.8%. Foreign orders in Q1 2008 are still rising however [...]
Italy’s orders jumped sharply in January but only after an
even larger fall in December. As a result the Q1 sales growth for
orders in January over the Q4 average is a dismal -1.8%. Foreign orders
in Q1 2008 are still rising however at a 4.4% rate but domestic orders
are a very weak -5.4%.
Italian sales are however up sharply higher in 2008-Q1: as of January. Sales are growing at a strong 18% pace in the quarter with 3.6% growth over three months and 5.7% growth over 12 months. So order weakness has yet to hit the sales bottom line. Still, order and sales in Italy have tracked closely in the past, so the weakness in orders should be ignored.
| Italy Orders | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saar exept m/m | Jan-08 | Dec-07 | Nov-07 | 3-mo | 6-mo | 12-mo |
| Total | 2.6% | -5.6% | 2.9% | -1.0% | -3.0% | 7.2% |
| Foreign | 5.3% | -8.1% | 3.9% | 2.0% | -8.3% | 10.0% |
| Domestic | 1.1% | -4.1% | 2.4% | -2.8% | -0.2% | 5.7% |
| Memo | ||||||
| Sales | 4.6% | -2.6% | 0.2% | 9.0% | 3.6% | 5.7% |
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
