German industrial orders go down 4.2% in February

In February, German industrial orders tumbled at their sharpest tempo for over two years because they were affected by a dive in foreign demand, backing fears that the EU’s number one economy had a poor start to 2019.

As a matter of fact, contracts for German goods went down by about 4.2%, as follows from data provided by the Economy Ministry on Thursday. It definitely differs from a 2.1% dive in January, updated from a 2.6% sink.

The sudden decrease turned out to be the steepest outcome since January 2017, thus confounding estimates for a 0.3% rally.

Apparently, dismal new order data drops a hint that German industry is still suppressed by Brexit woes as well as global uncertainties, as some experts pointed out.

Worries about the weakness of the manufacturing sector are affecting the outlook for the German economy that faces headwinds from a decelerating global economy, international trade clashes, to say nothing of the threat of the United Kingdom leaving the European bloc without an agreement.

In the nearer future, the German economy will be most probably sluggish, in particular, due to a lack of foreign demand.

In February, data disclosed that foreign orders slumped by approximately 6%, with a 7.9% tumble from non-euro zone countries as well as a 2.9% dive within the euro zone. In addition to this, domestic contracts headed south by about 1.6%.

Germany's leading economic institutes have reduced their 2019 surge estimate for Germany to 0.8% from a previous 1.9% forecast, as two sources revealed, already familiar with the report to be uncovered on Thursday, said Reuters.

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