Pace of German economic growth remains unchanged, weaker exports take the lead

The pace of economic growth in Germany remained unchanged during the third quarter of this year, both on a quarterly as well as annualized basis, followed by a drop in outbound shipments amid weakness in the country’s investment in the area of machinery and equipment.

Gross domestic product in Europe's largest economy grew 0.2 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter, or an annualized rate of 0.8 percent, data released by Destatis showed, confirming a flash estimate from Nov 15. It was the lowest expansion rate in a year and well below the U.S.'s annualized growth rate of 2.9 percent.

Further, the economy grew 1.5 percent, from 1.5 percent, compared to the same period a year ago. However, it remained below market expectations of 1.7 percent growth. Leading the stagnancy, was a deduction of 0.3 percentage points from the area of foreign trade as exports fell by 0.4 percent on the quarter and imports rose by 0.2 percent.

On the contrary, spending by household as well as by the state rose by 0.4 and 0.1 percent q/q respectively, while investment in plant and machinery dropped 0.6 percent on the quarter, adding to a 2.3 percent slump in the three months through June.

The EUR/USD currency pair rose 0.18 percent, following the release of the data, currently trading at 1.05, while at 9:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 14.72 (lower than the 75 benchmark for bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year bund yields fell more than 4 percent to 0.24 percent, following this news, while the country’s benchmark stock index, DAX rose 0.14 percent to 10,678.50 points.