New German Output-Data Anomaly Clouds View of Economy's Strength

Watchers of the German economy may face yet another data-related headache, the latest in a series of one-off quirks clouding their vision of gross domestic product.

Outsized production figures in the pharmaceutical sector have prompted an investigation in the statistics office, which is verifying whether numbers provided by companies are correct. That’s after a sharp rise and fall in drugmaker production may have distorted overall economic growth data even as the industry’s orders and sales moved at more stable rates.