Over the past few months, the news flow for the German economy has definitely improved. Manufacturing output strengthened for the second consecutive month, although remaining well below last year’s level. Also industrial orders rose slightly, although falling short of market expectations. Even though consumer confidence slightly weakened April, it remained at a very high level. Thanks to the resilience of consumer demand and construction activity, GDP increased by 0.4% in Q1. This was better than expected only a couple of weeks before. However, the decline in the ZEW economic sentiment indicator for May, published last Tuesday, points at sluggish growth in the coming months, as the US-China trade dispute and Brexit continue to weigh on industrial activity.
Index Germany
