German GDP growth slows a little in the second quarter
Germany's economy slowed a tad in the second quarter with foreign trade exerting a drag on activity.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter pace over the three months to June, according to the Federal Office of Statistics.
That was one tenth of a percentage point less than expected by economists. However, the prior quarter's rate of GDP growth was revised up from 0.6% to 0.7%.
In comparison to a year ago, GDP was ahead by 2.1%, up from the 2.0% pace observed during the prior quarter.
Commenting on the outlook for German growth, Dr. Andreas Rees, chief German economist at Unicredit, sounded a confident note, telling clients that the headwinds from a stronger euro was likely to be offset by the benefits of global growth.
For his part, Capital Economics's Jack Allen said: "More important than the German economy expanding by a touch less than expected in Q2 is that the region as a whole is performing well. So we still think that in October the Bank will announce its intention to taper QE in the first half of 2018."
According to Allen, Tuesday's GDP print out of Germany may lead Eurostat to mark down its estimate of second quarter euro area GDP down from 0.6% to 0.5%.