In April, German factory orders came out flat on a monthly basis, exactly matching expectations. The previous figure was however upwardly revised from 3.3% M/M to 3.7% M/M. The details show a 4.4% M/M decline in capital goods, while consumer goods (2.6% M/M) and especially intermediate goods (6.0% M/M) extended the previous month’s rebound. This outcome raises expectations that the worst for the German manufacturing sector might be behind us and the second quarter may be less bad than the first.