German economy dodges recession with 0.1% expansion in Q3

The German economy escaped a recession in the third quarter as output unexpectedly grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter driven by strong consumer spending, preliminary data showed on Thursday.

On the year, gross domestic product in Europe's largest economy expanded by 0.5% from July through September after a 0.3% expansion from April through June, seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

Analysts polled by Reuters for the third quarter had expected a 0.1% contraction quarter-on-quarter and a 0.5% expansion year-on-year in seasonally adjusted terms.