German prelim GDP contracts 0.2% in Q3, a slight miss on expectations

On Wednesday, the German preliminary GDP reading from Destatis showed that Europe’s top economy contracted by 0.2% inter-quarter in Q3 while grew by 1.1% YoY vs. previous revised readings at 0.5% and 2.0%, respectively. The growth numbers missed estimates across the time horizon.

“The slight quarter-on-quarter decline in the gross domestic product was mainly due to the development of foreign trade. According to provisional calculations, exports were down while imports were up in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the second quarter of the year. As regards domestic demand, there were mixed signals. While gross fixed capital formation both in machinery and equipment and in construction was higher than in the previous quarter, final consumption expenditure of households declined. Government final consumption expenditure was slightly higher than in the previous quarter," Destatis, the German statistical authority said in the report on Wednesday.