German manufacturing orders drop more than expected in April

Manufacturing orders in Germany fell much more than expected in April, according to figures released by Destatis.

Factory orders slumped 2% in April from the previous month, which was a much steeper drop than the 0.6% economists had been expecting

However, the figures for March were revised to show a 2.6% increase, up from the 1.9% initial reported.

On the year, manufacturing orders were down 0.5%.

Domestic orders increased 1.3%, while foreign orders fell by 4.3% on the previous month. New orders from the Eurozone were up 2.5% from March, while new orders from other countries decreased 8.3% compared to March 2016.

“A downbeat report, but the significant upward revision of the March makes the April headline look worse than it is,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics.

“Looking beyond the monthly volatility, survey data indicate that new orders should be about flat year-over-year, not falling, and we expect a recovery next month.”