This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
BERLIN (AP) — German factory orders dropped unexpectedly sharply in May, raising questions about a rebound in Europe’s largest economy.
The Federal Statistical Office reported Friday that industrial orders dropped 2.2% over April, with foreign orders down 4.3%, when adjusted for seasonal and calendar factors. Economists had forecast a 0.1% overall drop.
The decrease follows a 0.4% increase in April and a March rise of 0.8%.
ING economist Carsten Brzeski says “the downward slide is back again.”
Brzeski says the “sharp drop in new orders clearly undermines the tentative signs of a rebound or at least a bottoming out at the end of the first quarter.”