Europe’s latest batch of activity data point to a still-fragile industrial recovery. Germany’s Federal Statistics Office said new manufacturing orders fell 1.4% in May from April, far worse than the 0.1% decline economists expected, although orders were 5.3% higher than a year earlier. The drop was driven by sharp pullbacks in electronics, electrical equipment and basic metals, partially offset by stronger demand for fabricated metal products and transport equipment. In France, separate figures showed manufacturing output contracting 1.0% on the month, leaving total industrial production 0.9% below last year’s level. ING analysts said the run of weak prints makes a second-quarter GDP contraction increasingly likely. Spain offered a brighter note: industrial production rose 0.6% from April and 1.7% on the year, beating consensus estimates and reversing April’s slump. Price pressures across the bloc continued to ease. Eurostat reported that euro-area producer prices fell 0.6% in May, matching forecasts after a 2.2% slide in April, while the year-on-year rate slowed to 0.3%. Energy costs dropped a further 2.1% on the month, and prices excluding energy were broadly flat, reinforcing expectations that pipeline inflation will stay subdued. Forward-looking indicators remain tepid. S&P Global’s construction purchasing managers’ index edged up to 44.8 in Germany and to 48.8 in the UK—the latter a six-month high—yet both readings stay below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. Weak new-business inflows and cautious client sentiment were cited on both sides of the Channel. Taken together, the figures underscore the patchy nature of the region’s industrial rebound and highlight the risk that Europe’s largest economies will struggle to generate momentum in the second half of the year, even as softer producer prices give the European Central Bank more room to keep policy settings on hold.