Factory orders in Germany posted no improvement in May when measured on a monthly seasonally adjusted basis. According to the latest report from the German statistical office Destatis, factory orders in the Euro zone's largest economy kept unchanged in the fifth month of 2016, when they fell a revised 1.9%. Economists had predicted a 1% rise in the data, which is typically volatile. On a yearly basis, the gauge decreased by 0.2% in the reported month, after posting a 0.4% decline in the previous month, measured on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Markets had projected growth of 0.9% year-on-year in May. Meanwhile, according to the report, domestic orders decreased by 1.9%, while foreign orders increased by 1.4% on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 4.0% on the previous month, while new orders from other countries decreased by 0.3% compared to April 2016.
There are growing signs that, after a good start to the year, Germany's economy will at best have achieved only modest growth in the second quarter. The sideways trend in manufacturing points to it too, making only slight advances in the coming quarters. Moreover, the British vote in June, in which the nation opted to quit the EU, could further weaken the German economy.
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