It is an unusual situation. Normally, you would expect the government to err on the optimistic side.

I have penciled in a bit of pickup in private consumption because of wage increases.

Unions are asking for more, but we are still a long way from excessive demands. The wage restraint continues.

You don't need a strong home base for sales anymore. You just need Germany to be a good base for manufacturing.

It's just a statistical correction after the very strong months before. The long-term upward trend is very strong.

This is disappointing, as the industrial production figures yesterday were. Still, the business surveys point to a better performance going forward.