German factory orders rise

As the euro falls towards four-year lows, Germany's powerful export machine looks like a potential beneficiary. From Bloomberg:

German factory orders unexpectedly jumped for a second month in April as the weaker euro boosted export demand and companies increased investment.

Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, rose 2.8 percent from March, when they surged 5.1 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. Economists had forecast a 0.4 percent drop, according to the median of 34 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, orders gained 29.6 percent.

This comes at a time when the other export powerhouse, China, may be losing some of its labour cost advantage. From AFP/CNA:

Taiwanese IT giant Foxconn said Monday it would hike wages at its factories in the south Chinese city of Shenzhen, in a move observers said could trigger industry-wide salary increases.

Foxconn, which assembles products for US-based Apple, will raise the monthly pay for its assembly line workers in Shenzhen by nearly 70 percent to 2,000 yuan (290 dollars) from October 1, a spokeswoman said...

The announcement came after a series of suspected suicides at the firm's Shenzhen plants, which led to reports of long work hours under sweatshop-style conditions, setting off protests in Hong Kong and Taiwan.