German Factory Orders Unexpectedly Failed to Rise in May
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Orders were unchanged from prior month vs. estimated 1% rise
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Domestic orders declined as orders from euro-area jumped
German factory orders unexpectedly failed to rise in May as uncertainty over the global outlook deterred demand for goods.
Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, were unchanged from April, when they fell a revised 1.9 percent, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a 1 percent rise in the data, which is typically volatile. Orders dropped 0.2 percent from a year earlier.
Lackluster global growth, tepid earnings, and the impending U.K. referendum on European Union membership have all weighed on confidence this year. The British vote in June, in which the nation opted to quit the EU, could further weaken the German economy, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said last week in Munich.
Domestic demand dropped 1.9 percent and orders from outside the euro area slid 0.3 percent, the data showed. Consumer-goods orders weakened 0.4 percent. Orders from the currency bloc jumped 4 percent, and investment goods climbed 1.9 percent.