Germany’s ‘powerhouse’ economy is cracking and investors need to be wary, economist warns

[McFurd]

CNBC - 3/9/2017 - Silvia Amaro - Germany is often described as the "powerhouse" of Europe, but the health of the world's fourth largest economy is not as rosy as most people think, according to one economist. "The crack in Germany's economy has become most evident in consumer spending. Retail sales volumes have slowed consistently since growth rates peaked in mid-2015. They have crashed in the last six monthly reports," Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note earlier this week. Hard data shows that Germany's economy has been facing problems for at least the past six months, despite an uptick in growth at the end of last year. At the same time, income has been slowing dramatically and the reasons behind this are far from clear. Read more @ http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/09/germanys ... warns.html