German factory orders fall for third straight month

(Sharecast News) - Factory orders in Germany unexpectedly fell in July, declining by their most in six months, following a significant drop in transport orders. Price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing fell by 2.9% in July after seasonal and calendar adjustments, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

That was the third straight decline after a revised 0.2% decrease in June, missing the 0.5% increase expected by economists. This was the steepest fall since January.

New orders for aircraft, ships, trains and military vehicles sank by 38.6% over the month, pulling back after a high volume of large-scale orders were recorded in June, while electrical equipment orders fell 16.8%. That offset the 6.5% increase in automotive industry orders.

New orders for capital goods and intermediate goods fell 2.4% and 5.3%, respectively, while new orders for consumer goods increased 4.3%.

When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were actually 0.7% higher in July.