The German economy continued to underperform in August, latest flash PMI data showed. Growth of service sector business activity was again countered by a marked fall in goods production, while overall job creation slipped to a five-year low. Worryingly for the outlook, total new orders sank deeper into contraction territory and firms’ expectations towards future output turned negative for the first time since late 2014. Elsewhere, PMI data pointed to a further softening of inflationary pressures, driven by further falls in both manufacturing input costs and output charges. At 51.4 in August, the IHS Markit Flash ... (full story)