The German economy expanded by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2019 and matched expectations, the preliminary report by Destatis showed this Wednesday. Meanwhile, the yearly growth rate slowed more than expected to 0.6% as compared to the previous reading of 0.9%. The German GDP growth rate had stalled in the final quarter of 2018. “Having narrowly escaped recession in the second half of 2018, the German economy is widely forecasted to have picked up pace in the first quarter of 2019. This is because China’s economy stabilized in the first three months and German consumer spending, as represented by retail sales, ticked ... (full story)