Euro zone industrial orders turned out much weaker than expected in February after falling on a monthly basis in all of the area's biggest economies except Germany.
Orders fell 0.7 per cent month-on-month and rose 4.7 per cent year-on-year, European Union statistics office Eurostat said today, defying market expectations of a 1.1 per cent monthly increase and a gain of 7.8 per cent year-on-year.
Stripped of the volatile numbers for ships, planes and trains, orders rose 0.5 per cent on a monthly basis and 7.4 per cent in annual terms.
Of all categories, orders for machinery and equipment grew the most - 1.8 per cent on the month and 16.4 per cent on the year.
The fall in the value of monthly orders was driven by sharp declines in Ireland, Greece, Spain, France and Italy, despite respectable gains in the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany, Finland and Portugal.