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A drop in Germany's industrial output stokes recession fears

Farming in Germany. Crops
Parts of Germany were hit by a long stretch of hot, dry weather last July that impacted outputs. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Germany's industrial output unexpectedly fell in November, which may mean that its economy entered into a technical recession at the end of last year, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: Europe's largest economy had already cut its growth expectations by a third, announcing in December that it expected the economy to grow by just 1.5% in 2018.

  • "The decline ... was broad-based and led by consumer goods and energy. Output was down 4.7 percent year-on-year, the most since 2009," Bloomberg's Carolynn Look writes.
  • The data "has clearly increased the risk of a technical recession in Germany in the second half of 2018,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Germany.

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