German orders fall sharply amid slowdown in foreign trade

German factory orders fell sharply in April as a slump in foreign demand highlighted the impact on Europe's biggest economy of a slowdown in global trade. 
Monthly industrial orders contracted by a more-than-forecast 2 % in April after bounding ahead by an upwardly revised 2.6 % in March, the German Ministry of Economics said on Monday. 
Order books shrunk 0.5 % from April last year. 
The fall in April was more than four times the 0.5 % decline predicted by analysts. The ministry had previously estimated the April increase at 1.9 %. 
Leading the drop in April was a 4.3% drop in foreign orders after demand from outside the Eurozone plunged by 8.3 %. 
Orders from Germany's key Eurozone trading partners rose by 2.5 %. 
Domestic orders were up a solid 1.3 % in April, the ministry said.