German Factory Orders Jump in October

Big domestic contracts helped boost German industrial orders for the second month in a row in October, according to the country's Economics and Labor Ministry. While orders from abroad sank by 1.2 percent, domestic orders jumped by a surprising 3.3 percent, beating analysts' expectations. Despite the good news on the domestic front, market watchers warned against reading too much into it. "I can't say that this means the domestic economy has the all-clear," said Rainer Guntermann of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Economists are still worried about the euro's 12 percent advance in the last three months on the US dollar, concerned it could put the brakes on the Germany's export-driven recovery. A stronger euro makes German exports more expensive abroad.