A rebound in German industrial orders has yet to feed through to production, with output from the country’s factory sector once again lagging behind expectations, the Financial Times reported. Industrial production dropped 0.3 per cent in August from the previous month according to statistics agency Destatis, after a 1.3 per cent month-on-month decline in July. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.4 per cent increase for August. July’s production was also worse than previously thought. Data had originally pointed to a decline of 1.1 per cent for the month.

A trio of funds backed by $3 trillion in global assets reckon the recent sell-off in Italian bonds is overdone. UBS Wealth Management is buying into the weakness in the nation’s debt, along with Allianz Global Investors and Nomura Asset Management, Bloomberg News reported. The surge in Italian bond yields is a reflection of a market in fear, which will be forgotten noise in a few months for Allianz. “The move is completely crazy,” said Kacper Brzezniak, a portfolio manager at Allianz, whose firm overseas 524 billion euros ($605 billion) in assets globally.

German retail sales unexpectedly slipped in August, marking the second disappointing reading in a row for the country’s retail trade and fuelling concerns over growth in Europe’s biggest economy, the Financial Times reported. Retail sales fell by 0.1. per cent in August compared to the previous month, according to data published by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a 0.4 per cent rise. However, on an year on year basis, turnover in Germany’s retail trade increased by 1.6 per cent, above analyst expectations of 1.5 per cent.

Germany’s powerhouse manufacturing sector extended its slowdown into September, early data showed on Friday, but its service sector bucked the trend with growth remaining robust, the Financial Times reported. The flash manufacturing purchasing manager’s index for the eurozone’s largest economy fell to a 25-month low to 53.7 according to IHS Markit, which compiles the data. That was a dramatic fall in the pace of growth reported by executives from the previous month, when the index stood at 55.9. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had only expected a very slight drop to 55.7.

Insolvent German charter carrier Small Planet Airlines hopes to attract a buyer following a debt restructuring, its administrator told Reuters on Wednesday, saying he saw good a chance of a deal, Reuters reported. Small Planet, which employs 400 staff and has nine aircraft, mainly flies tourists to Mediterranean destinations. The company filed for insolvency this week in a bid to stay in the air while a buyer is found. “Talks are going on with investors, and they are now being intensified under new conditions,” court-appointed administrator Joachim Voigt-Salus told Reuters.

Deutsche Bank has scaled up plans to shift hundreds of billions of assets from London to Frankfurt after coming under increasing pressure from European regulators over the size and complexity of its UK operations after Brexit, the Financial Times reported. Deutsche could eventually move about three-quarters of its estimated €600bn balance sheet back home.

Deutsche Bank AG is weighing a move to split its core businesses under a holding company, a measure that would make it easier to break up in a crisis and more agile in potential mergers, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, Bloomberg News reported. The bank has been encouraged by regulators to adopt the structure, which could create three largely independent core divisions overseen by common management, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private.

Two of the most storied names in German department stores are combining in a deal orchestrated by an Austrian real estate billionaire, highlighting the pressures facing traditional retailers amid the rise of Amazon.com Inc. Karstadt, controlled by Rene Benko’s Signa Holding GmbH, agreed to take over Galeria Kaufhof, owned by Saks Fifth Avenue parent Hudson’s Bay Co., creating a retail company with 5.4 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in revenue, Bloomberg News reported. Benko has long wanted to merge the brands, having had an overture rejected as recently as February.

Deutsche Bank is set to lose as much as €200m in revenue a year unless chief executive Christian Sewing can reverse a recent surge in funding costs, the Financial Times reported. Executives have made reducing the cost of issuing debt a top priority after a chastening summer for the German lender, people familiar with their thinking said. The push comes after its credit rating was downgraded, its shares continued to tumble and the price of insuring its debt doubled on fears of contagion from political crises in Italy and Turkey.

Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in July to its smallest level in more than four years, as exports slipped while imports jumped during a period of escalating trade tensions that has seen the EU targeted by US tariffs. The data from the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis), which showed the foreign trade balance dropped by €3.2bn to a €15.8bn surplus in calendar and seasonally-adjusted terms, is the latest indication of weakness in the export-driven economy of the eurozone’s powerhouse, the Financial Times reported. Germany has not run a smaller surplus since March 2014.