German manufacturing orders rise less than expected in July

New manufacturing orders in Germany rose less than expected in July, according to data released by Destatis on Tuesday.

Orders were up 0.2% on the month following a 0.3% decline in June, missing economists’ expectations for a 0.5% increase.

Domestic orders fell by 3%, while foreign orders were up 2.5% on the previous month and new orders from the euro area were up 5.9%.

On an annual basis, manufacturing orders were down 0.7% from July last year compared to a 3% drop in June.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said the factory orders data was “soft”.

“A big divergence between domestic and export orders is the key story in this report,” it said, adding that the surge in new orders to eurozone countries has to be put into context of an 8.3% fall in June. “These data are ridiculously volatile on a month-to-month basis.”