-Neil Jones, head of European hedge-fund sales at Mizuho Bank Ltd.
Here we go. Finally, Ukraine crisis and the latest geopolitical tensions are starting to fee through the European economies. A measure of confidence among German manufacturers, builders, wholesalers and retailers inched lower for the first time in five months, as domestic companies evaluate the risks to trade from sanctions against Russia.
According to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, a gauge of business climate, which is based on a survey of 7,000 executives, fell to 110.0 this month from 111.3 in February that was the highest level since July 2011. Economists predicted a slightly more positive figure– 110.9. The index of current conditions stood at 115.2 over the described period, following previous month's reading of 114.4 and outpacing market's forecast for 114.5 points. The expectations index, which is designed to predict economy's performance during the next six months, fell short of market's expectations.
German statistics caused a panic among investors, with the EUR/USD currency pair falling to 1.3785 amid concerns surrounding German economy. Moreover, keeping in mind leaders of G7 warned Russia about additional damaging economic sanctions, the single currency has a potential to move even lower.
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