German industrial production unexpectedly rose in July as output of investment goods increased. Production rose 1.3 percent from June, when it fell a revised 0.4 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. Economists forecast unchanged production, the median of 39 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Production fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier when adjusted for working days. Domestic demand is helping to prop up the German economy, Europe’s largest, as the sovereign debt crisis dents exports to fellow euro-area states. Still, growth slowed in the second quarter and business confidence has dropped ... (full story)