By Ed Frankl
New orders at German factories declined more than expected in October, a advocate signal that any rebound in the country’s struggling manufacturing sector will have to expect.
Manufacturing orders were 3.7% lower than a month before, according to seasonally and calendar adjusted-data released Wednesday by German statistics office Destatis. Orders had been expected to slip by just 0.5%, according to economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Orders in September had risen 0.7%, Destatis said, revising up a previous assess of a 0.2% rise. In comparison with the same month of 2022, orders plunged 7.3% in October.
New orders were down in major sectors including fabricated metal products, electrical equipment and the key automotive industry, Destatis said. Machinery and equipment manufacturing orders dived 13.5% in October.
However, excluding large-scale orders, new orders were up 0.7% on the month, Destatis added.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
