By Maria Martinez
Feb 5 (Reuters) - German industrial orders rose unexpectedly in December, driven by volatile large-scale orders, but more reliable subindicators showed an underlying upswing could be forming.
Orders climbed 7.8% in December, when compared with the previous month, on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, official data showed on Thursday. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a fall of 2.2%.
Excluding large-scale contracts, which often follow unpredictable patterns, new orders
were 0.9% higher in December compared with the previous month.
It was the fourth consecutive increase in smaller-scale orders, said Ralph Solveen, senior economist at Commerzbank.
"This gives hope that the downturn in industry has come to an end for the time being," Solveen said.
After revision of the provisional data, new orders in November increased by 5.7% on October, instead of 5.6%.
The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 9.5% higher in the fourth quarter of 2025 than in the third quarter.
"Overall, these are strong data, which will add fuel to the narrative that the German economy is finally kicking into gear after a year-long hiatus, helped in part by fiscal stimulus," said Claus Vistesen, chief euro zone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
(Additional reporting by Tristan VeyetEditing by Ludwig Burger)
