Overview
Industrial orders in the euro area rose by 9.5% in the year to the end of December. The increase in December was 0.8%, below the 2.7% rise in November. An index of euro-area manufacturing activity, based on surveys of purchasing managers, rose in February to 54.1, its highest level since August 2007. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
Sales of new houses in America fell by 11% in January to the lowest level since records began in 1963, according to the Department of Commerce. The median price of a new home fell by 5.6% from December.
Malaysia’s GDP in the final quarter of 2009 rose by 4.5% compared with the same period a year earlier. Despite this late flourish, the economy shrank by 1.7% in 2009 as a whole.
Inflation in South Africa edged down to 6.2% in January from 6.3% in December, leaving it just outside the central bank’s target range of 3-6%. Prices rose by 0.3% between December and January.
Hong Kong’s GDP rose by a seasonally- adjusted 2.3% in the final three months of 2009, following an increase of 0.4% in the previous quarter.