German Factory Orders Dip

German factory orders fell in November as demand for investment goods dropped, though the economy ministry said the trend remains upward, Bloomberg reported. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, slid 0.4% after a revised 0.7% gain in October, the ministry said on Monday. While the decrease snapped three month of gains, the number is typically volatile and orders were up 8.7% from a year earlier. “Overall, orders in the second half of 2017 developed extremely dynamically. This lays the foundation for a strong start to the year in industry,” the economy ministry said in a statement. “In November, fluctuations in bulk orders were the main reason for the negative result.” Monday’s report showed that domestic factory orders fell 0.4% in November and those from nations outside the eurozone slid 1.2%, while orders from the rest of the currency bloc increased 0.7%. The ministry said that despite the most-recent drop in investment orders, the category continues to drive growth in demand.