The German economy is expected to grow this year following two consecutive years of contraction, four economic institutes said on Thursday, raising their forecasts for 2025 and 2026, Reuters reported. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) raised its forecast to 0.3% growth from the stagnation it had previously envisaged due to a better-than-expected first quarter, when the economy grew by 0.4%. "The German economy is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel," the economists said in their new forecasts.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that he would pursue a deal under which U.S. cars could be imported into Europe duty free in exchange for tariff waivers on the same number of vehicles exported to the United States, Reuters reported. Speaking at an event in Berlin just hours after his inaugural trip to Washington for talks with U.S.

German manufacturing orders unexpectedly rose in April, confounding fears that the Trump administration’s ratcheting up of tariffs would hit demand for German goods, the Wall Street Journal reported. Factory orders climbed 0.6% on month, Germany’s statistics agency Destatis said Thursday. Nevertheless, the first hard industrial data after President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement showed a slowdown from the 3.4% increase in March, which came as U.S. firms stockpiled goods from abroad in an effort to get ahead of proposed levies.

Helaba and other German lenders have paid millions of euros in recent weeks to settle claims by the administrator of former real estate tycoon René Benko’s Signa Prime Selection AG, the Luxembourg Times reported. Helaba paid €26 million at the end of May as part of an out-of court settlement, Signa Prime’s insolvency administrator said in a report to creditors dated Monday. Other payments include €3 million received from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and €2.1 million from Bayerische Landesbank.

Germany’s unemployment numbers rose this month, as major firms intensify plans to rejig their workforces in an uncertain economic environment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Seasonally adjusted jobless claims climbed by 34,000 in May, accelerating from the 6,000 increase in April, according to data from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency published Wednesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a smaller increase of 14,000. Germany’s adjusted unemployment rate, however, held at 6.3%, matching consensus.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by 0.4% in the first quarter thanks to stronger-than-expected exports and manufacturing, official data showed Friday, the Associated Press reported. The Federal Statistical Office had reported at the end of last month that the economy expanded by 0.2% in the January-March period compared with the previous quarter. The head of the office, Ruth Brandt, said that “the surprisingly good economic development seen in March” led to the revision.

German inflation eased further to 2.2% in April, the federal statistics office said on Wednesday, confirming preliminary data, Reuters reported. German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, had risen by 2.3% year-on-year in March. Read more.

Affimed N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, today announced its decision to file an application for opening of insolvency proceedings with the local court of Mannheim in Germany, according to a company press release. As previously reported, Affimed has been engaged in discussions with potential investors and partners with respect to potential strategic transactions to raise additional capital.

President Trump has defended his decision to introduce tariffs on goods from other countries by arguing that it will lead companies to shift production to the United States, bringing back jobs, the New York Times reported. For German companies, which have been producing their goods in the United States since the late 1800s, such arguments ring hollow. Thousands of German companies already have factories in the United States, accounting for 12 percent of the country’s foreign investments. Automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz have long had plants in the United States.