Germany’s industrial output unexpectedly dropped in October, reviving worries about its economic growth outlook as its manufacturing backbone takes a blow from global trade conflicts and disruptions in the auto sector. Industrial output dropped 1.7% on the month against expectations for a 0.1% rise, Statistics Office figures showed on Friday. Production of capital goods slumped by 4.4% on the month, the steepest decline in more than five years. Europe’s biggest economy is going through a soft patch as its export-oriented manufacturers struggle against a backdrop of trade friction, an ailing car industry and uncertainties over Britain’s planned departure from the European Union. “Now the trepidation starts again about GDP growth in the final quarter,” said Jens-Oliver Niklasch, economist at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg. German industry now expects output in the coming months to fall more slowly than was foreseen a month ago, a survey of 2,300 firms in […]