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Germany’s Factory Orders Fall Again As It Battles Recession

Germany’s Factory Orders Fall Again As It Battles Recession

Germany’s factory orders unexpectedly fell again in April as Europe’s largest economy endured a tough start to the second quarter after entering a technical recession over the winter.

  • Manufacturing orders fell 0.4% in April compared with the previous month, according to official data, following a sharp 10.9% drop in March. Economists were expecting a 4% jump, according to FactSet data.
  • The drop was driven by a fall in demand from abroad. While domestic orders rose 1.8%, foreign orders fell 1.8%, with those coming from within the euro zone declining 2.7%.
  • Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) had fallen 0.3% in the first three months of the year, the country’s statistics office said late last month. That meant two consecutive quarters of negative growth—a widely used definition of a recession—after dropping 0.5% in the final quarter of 2022.

What’s Next: After falling into recession, the weak factory orders data compound Germany’s economic woes, though the fall wasn’t as bad as March’s sharp drop. Industrial production data Wednesday will be the next indicator of just how bad things are.

Callum Keown from barrons