2018.08.0608:47:00UTC+00German Factory Orders Decline Fastest Since Early 2017

Germany's factory orders decreased the most in one-and-a-half years in June as both domestic and foreign demand deteriorated on trade tensions, figures from Destatis showed Monday.

Factory orders declined 4 percent month-on-month, reversing a 2.6 percent increase in May. This was the biggest fall since January 2017, when orders fell 4.8 percent. Economists had forecast orders to drop slightly by 0.1 percent.

Domestic and foreign orders slid 2.8 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively. Within foreign orders, demand from the euro area dropped 2.7 percent and that from other countries slid 5.9 percent.

Disappointing new orders data show tentative signs of trade tensions hitting the German economy, which doesn't bode well for the industrial outlook in the second half of the year, Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING-DiBa, said.

The euro area economy expanded 0.3 percent in the second quarter. Destatis is set to issue GDP data for the largest euro area economy on August 14.

Excluding major orders, new orders decreased 3.2 percent in June, data showed Monday.

Manufacturers of intermediate goods logged a 2.3 percent fall in new orders. Likewise, orders for capital goods fell 4.7 percent and consumer goods orders decreased 4.5 percent on the previous month.

On a yearly basis, factory orders fell by 0.8 percent, in contrast to May's 4.7 percent increase and the expected rise of 3.5 percent.

At the same time, manufacturing turnover decreased 1 percent on month in June, versus a 0.9 percent rise in May.