(RTTNews) - German stocks were subdued on Wednesday ahead of the announcement of a government forecast that may show GDP is set to contract in 2024.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner has said the country's economy is "treading water" and that the government "cannot be satisfied with economic development".
Meanwhile, Germany's trade surplus increased in August due to an unexpected increase in exports amid a bigger-than-expected decline in imports, official data showed earlier today.
Exports posted a monthly growth of 1.3 percent in August following July's 1.7 percent increase, Destatis reported. This was the second consecutive increase. Shipments were forecast to fall 1.0 percent.
Imports declined 3.4 percent, reversing an increase of 5.3 percent in July. Imports dropped for the first time in three months and came in larger than the expected fall of 2.5 percent.
As a result, the trade surplus rose to EUR 22.5 billion from EUR 16.9 billion in July.
The benchmark DAX slid 0.1 percent to 19,045 after declining 0.2 percent in the previous session.
Nordex SE added 1.7 percent. The wind turbine maker said that it has bagged orders for 1,726 MW wind turbines for the third-quarter, lesser than 2,251 MW of wind turbines, posted for the same period last year.
However, for the six-month period to September, the company secured orders for 5,083 MW wind turbines, higher than prior year's 4,892 MW.
