A slow-growing economy and low inflation are generally regarded as positive for the bond market.

Analysts said the September increase in orders would help manufacturing, and that in turn would lift the slow-growing economy.

Meanwhile, inequality has soared, as the richest 20 percent of the population has reaped whatever gains a slow-growing economy has made.

But many economists say that only a very big increase would work, and the collateral damage to the country's stable but slow-growing economy would be painful.

Critics who had advocated the larger tax cuts said Germany had squandered yet another chance to breathe new life into its slow-growing economy.

A slow-growing economy, in which there is little threat of rising interest rates or a surge in inflation, was behind the bond market's strong rally this summer.

Argentina faces a different problem: investors there are worried that its slow-growing economy may not have the wherewithal to repay its hefty foreign debt.

The best news for the stock market is a slow-growing economy.

The inflation report pushed up interest rates generally and seemed to leave the Fed with less maneuvering room to respond to the slow-growing economy.

The commission is part of the opposition's effort to capitalize on marked discontent with the governing party's handling of Germany's slow-growing economy before two state elections in early February.