Manufacturing Orders Fall in August

Orders placed with German manufacturing companies fell by 3.7 percent in August compared with July, preliminary adjusted data from the German economy and labor ministry showed on Thursday. The fall followed three months of increases, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the decline posed no danger to hopes of an economic recovery in Europe's biggest economy. "The volume of orders in August must be seen as a small correction in orders after increases in recent times," the ministry said. "Given the ongoing strong demand for industrial products from overseas and clearly higher domestic demand in recent months, the chances of a recovery in the industrial sector remain good." The decline was stronger than expected, according to a poll by AFP's financial news subsidiary AFX News. Analysts polled by AFX News had been expecting a month-on-month decline of 2.5 percent.