Eurozone factories record their fastest month in four years

Eurozone manufacturing expanded in August at its fastest pace since early 2022. Germany ranked fourth in S&P Global’s global growth table, pulling the bloc with it. New orders for manufactured goods sat at a four-year high. The wire will call this a recovery. On the floor it is a capacity question.

European plants spent three years learning that energy is a production input, not a utility line. A bounce in orders without a bounce in firm power and a second shift of people is a backlog, not a boom. The Mittelstand that will convert this print is the one that already dual-sourced electricity, locked a night technician bench, and told sales which SKUs the line can actually take this quarter.