- ING
German companies remain upbeat about the economy, but fears about weakening exports due to a slowdown in the US and China are dampening the mood among German executives. Ifo Business Climate unexpectedly deteriorated in April, with the gauge slipping to 106.6 compared with 106.7 in the preceding month. In contrast, economists had expected the index to rise to 107.1 level within the month period. The European Central Bank's decision announced in March to cut its deposit rate further into negative territory as well as increase the pace of monthly asset purchases to 80 billion euro did not manage to spur the growth of the index. Even though the data disappointed, it is still an improvement on low figures at the end of last year.
The Ifo Current Assessment sub-index, measuring current conditions in the Euro bloc's powerhouse, declined to 113.2 points, below last month's 113.8. The Ifo Expectations Index, indicating firms' expectations for the next six months, increased to 100.4 points, beating the previous figure of 100, while analysts had projected a marginal improvement to 100.9. Meanwhile, an alternative ZEW economic index survey showed a slight improvement as it inched higher to 11.2 from 4.3, while expectations were at 8 points. However it is still extremely low, as too many investors are still pessimistic about the next six months.
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