German Unemployment Pauses; Can ETFs Regain Ground?

Unemployment in Germany has been enjoying a slow decline, which could give a hand to the country’s exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The economy cooled in July and has experienced its longest decline since the reunification in 1990, reports Rainer Buergin for Bloomberg. On the bright side, the unemployment is taking a breather, although it fell at a slower pace last month.

The adjusted unemployment rate is now at 7.8%, a 16-year low.

Business confidence is down and companies are slow to hire as the outlook is not so well. Manufacturing orders are slow with a sixth straight decline, one of the largest declines in industrial production in more than nine years.

Metro AC, Germany’s largest retailer, reported second-quarter losses related to the costs of closing some of its superstores. Despite this, Metro kept forecasts for operating profit growth and sales for the year because of the rising electronics sales closing the gap off the stagnant German food market, reports Holger Elfes for Bloomberg.

Will the NETS DAX Index Fund (DAX) and iShares MSCI Germany (EWG) be able to withstand this slowdown? DAX is a new fund that launched on May 22. EWG, however, is down 17.9% year-to-date. Metro is 0.8% of DAX.

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