Central bank: Germany's Q2 growth stagnated

Economic growth in Germany, Europe's largest economy, stagnated in the second quarter of this year, estimated the German central bank on Monday, referring to calendar effects and geopolitical tensions.
The economic upturn in Germany "markedly" lost its momentum, said Bundesbank in its monthly report, adding that construction activity fell from a strong growth in the first quarter when it was benefited by a mild winter, and industry production also dropped.
"The industry turned down a gear," it said, "In addition to calendar effects, the increased geopolitical tensions are likely to have played a role."
"Taking the service sector, which continued to expand, into account, the seasonally and calendar adjusted real gross domestic product could have retained the status of the first quarter in the second quarter," the Bundesbank said.
The German Federal Statistical Office was scheduled to release official data of GDP in the second quarter in mid-August. During the first three months of 2014, the German economy grew by 0.8 percent, doubling its growth in the last quarter of 2013.
Earlier data showed that both German industrial output and new orders fell in May, number of the unemployed declined for the second month in June.
Mannheim-based Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) also found in its recent survey that German investors' confidence in economic outlook in July dropped to the lowest level since December 2012.
Bundesbank forecast the German economy to grow by 1.9 percent over the whole year of 2014, while the German government expected a growth of 1.8 percent