German economy slows down and new cases affect service industry

The manufacturing industry continued to improve, with strong sales at home and abroad. Several respondents to the IHS Markit survey mentioned an increase in orders from China and Turkey. Phil Smith, an economist at the London based firm, says manufacturing is at least relatively positive in terms of trends in output and new orders. However, the further reduction in the number of factory workers reminds us that there is still room for improvement and that enterprises are still under pressure to cut costs. < / P > < p > like the rest of the euro zone, Germany has only recovered from a record economic contraction, and its progress is extremely uncertain. At the last meeting, European Central Bank officials expressed doubts about whether economic activity will continue to warm up and hope that the next meeting in September will give clearer guidance. Germany’s composite PMI fell from 55.3 in July to 53.7 in August. French manufacturing shrank unexpectedly this month, while services grew only moderately.