Weak Factory Orders in Germany Worsen Further in November

Foreks - Factory orders in Germany unexpectedly declined in November 2024; this provided an additional signal of the sector's weakness, which could be further threatened by the tariffs proposed by the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. According to data released by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), factory orders fell by 5.4% in November compared to October. This decline pointed to a much more negative figure than analysts' expectations for no change in orders. The previous month's decline was at 1.5%.

Destatis reported that the drop was mainly due to larger-scale orders for transportation equipment, including aircraft, ships, trains, and military vehicles, received in October but not repeated in November. Excluding large-scale orders, new orders were 0.2% higher than the previous month. However, domestic orders overall increased by 3.8%, indicating a slight strengthening of local demand, while foreign orders fell by 10.8%.

Another data released by Destatis referred to retail sales. Retail sales decreased by 0.5% compared to the previous month and by 2.6% compared to the same month of the previous year.

The German economy grew only by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2024. The figures also indicate negative signals for the last quarter.