Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that in November, factory orders fell by 5.4%, accelerating from October (-1.5%) and recording the sharpest decline since August. Economists had expected that orders would remain unchanged. Meanwhile, over the last three months (through November), factory orders rose by 1.7% compared to the previous three months. When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders increased by 0.2% compared to October and by 0.5% q/q over a three-month period.
Destatis said that the negative development of total new orders in manufacturing was primarily due to sizeable large-scale orders for other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles) which were received in October. Therefore, new orders in this sector in November were 58.4% lower than in the previous month. The manufacture of machinery (+1.2%) and the chemical industry (+1.7%) recorded slight increases compared to October, while new orders decreased in the manufacture of basic metals (-1.2%) and in the pharmaceutical industry (-7.2%).
As for sectors, new orders fell in the capital goods sector (-9.4% m/m) and in the consumer goods sector (-7.1% m/m), but rose in the intermediate goods sector (+1.8% m/m).
Meanwhile, foreign orders fell by 10.8% m/m, while new orders from the euro area declined by 3.8% m/m. New orders from the rest of the world fell by 14.8% m/m, while domestic orders rose by 3.8% m/m.
A separate report showed that retail sales fell by 0.6% in November after falling by 0.4% in October (revised from -1.5%). It was the sharpest drop since May. Economists had expected an increase of 0.5%. Year-on-year, retail sales growth accelerated to 2.5% from 2.4% in October (revised from +1%). This was the 4th consecutive increase. Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 1.9%.