Eurozone GDP was confirmed today as having grown 0.2% in Q1 2010. Meanwhile, German manufacturing orders fell 0.5% in May government data showed Wednesday but were up 24.7% on 2009

Eurozone (EA16) and EU27 GDP both increased by 0.2% during the first quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates from Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union. In the fourth quarter of 2009, growth rates were +0.1% in the Eurozone and +0.2% in the EU27.

In comparison with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose in the first quarter of 2010 by 0.6% in the Eurozone and by 0.5% in the EU27, after -2.1% and -2.3% respectively in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2010, among Member States for which seasonally adjusted GDP data are available, Ireland (+2.7%) recorded the highest growth rate compared with the previous quarter, followed by Sweden (+1.4%) and Portugal (+1.1%).

Variation in components of GDP: In the first quarter of 2010, household2 final consumption expenditure decreased by 0.1% in both the Eurozone and the EU27 (after +0.2% in both zones in the previous quarter). Investments fell by 1.2% in the Eurozone and by 1.3% in the EU27 (after -1.2% and -1.5% respectively). Exports increased by 2.1% in the Eurozone and by 2.0% in the EU27 (after +1.8% and +1.9%). Imports rose by 3.8% in the Eurozone and by 3.4% in the EU27 (after +1.2% and +1.6%).

US GDP up by 0.7%, Japanese GDP up by 1.2%: Among the main partners of the EU, GDP increased by 0.7% in the US in the first quarter of 2010 (+1.4% in the previous quarter). In Japan GDP grew by 1.2% in the first quarter of 2010 (+1.1% in the previous quarter).

Compared with the first quarter of 2009, GDP rose by 2.4% in the US (+0.1% in the previous quarter) and by 4.2% in Japan (-1.4% in the previous quarter).

In the same way that the recession was a rolling recession, the recovery could be rolling recovery, Ken Wattret from BNP Paribas told CNBC Wednesday. Nick Parson from National Australia Bank joined the discussion:

German Manufacturing Orders

German manufacturing orders fell 0.5% in May government data showed Wednesday but were up 24.7% on 2009.

However, following a recent surge and a revision in April orders, economists cautioned that the outlook for manufacturing remains bright. April's orders were revised up to 3.2% from the 2.8% increase previously reported.

The economy ministry said orders had dropped in two key sectors, intermediate goods used in the production of finished products and the auto industry. "The amount of big-ticket orders was below average for the month of May and slowed down the overall result," the ministry said. "The trend in orders activities still points strongly to the upside, despite the present slight decline. Industrial output will remain on its recovery track."

Domestic orders fell 0.6% in May, in seasonally adjusted terms, while foreign demand was down 0.3%. Orders from the other Eurozone countries fell 3.3% from April, while orders ex-the common currency area gained 1.8%.

Within the manufacturing sector, demand for intermediate goods fell by 2.3% after growing 4.3% in April. Capital-goods orders, however, were up 0.4% from the previous month, while consumer goods powered ahead, rising 3.6% from April.

Compared with a year earlier, total orders rose an unadjusted 24.7% in May after a 30.2% increase in April. The two-month comparison, which smoothes fluctuations in the data, shows that manufacturing orders rose 5.6% in the April-May period compared with the February-March period.

The Eurozone (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.