2018.03.0821:43:00UTC+00German Industrial Orders Dropped in January

German industrial orders declined in January, data showed, but the economy ministry said it expected manufacturing to continue to grow robustly in coming months and support a solid upswing in Europe's largest economy.

Contracts for 'Made in Germany' goods dropped 3.9 percent in January after jumping by a revised 3.0 percent in the previous month, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

That represents an 8.2 percent gain on the same month of the previous year, but still, domestic orders dropped 2.8 percent on the month, and foreign orders by 4.6 percent, all suggesting that while the economy is humming very nicely, it is perhaps not racing ahead at quite the pace that observers had thought.

December's 3.8 percent monthly gain was also trimmed back to 3 percent.

“Despite the decline in January, the overall trend in industrial orders is pointing upwards,” the economy ministry said, adding that orders were up 0.9 percent in December and January compared to the previous two months.