German Factory Orders Worse Than Expected

Germany’s factory orders declined more than expected in August on weak domestic and foreign demand reinforcing fears of a recession, official data showed Thursday.

Manufacturing new orders decreased 2.4 percent month-on-month in August, reversing a revised 1.9 percent rise in July, Destatis reported. Economists had forecast a moderate 0.7 percent drop in August.

The statistical office revised the July’s figure from -1.1 percent as the large-scale orders in the aerospace sector were reported late for reference month.

Excluding large-scale orders, there was an increase of 0.8 percent in August, data showed.

Domestic orders and foreign orders fell 3.4 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. Orders from the euro area slid 3.8 percent and that from other countries dropped 0.4 percent.

Manufacturers of capital goods recorded a decrease of 2.4 percent in August. Likewise, orders for intermediate goods slid 4.2 percent. On the other hand, consumer goods orders went up 5.2 percent.

On a yearly basis, new orders were down 4.1 percent after a sharp 11.0 percent decline in July.

Further, data showed that manufacturing turnover grew 1.0 percent on month, in contrast to the revised 2.0 percent fall in July. Turnover was 6.9 percent higher than in August 2021.

Elsewhere, survey results from S&P Global showed that Germany’s construction sector contracted at a faster pace in September. The construction Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 41.8 from 42.6 in August. The latest score was the lowest since February 2021, when severe weather disrupted activity.

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