"The widely-spread fear that the euro zone's biggest economy could now also be caught by the crisis virus has been soothed"
- Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels
German business confidence improved for a third consecutive month in January, a sign Europe's largest economy may avoid a recession. The Ifo institute's business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 businesses, rose to 108.3 from 107.3 in December.
"This is not only great news for Germany, but also bodes well for the euro area," said Andreas Rees, chief Germany economist at UniCredit Group in Munich.
"Over the past 20 years, whenever the Ifo expectations component has risen three months in a row it signaled a turning point also for the euro- area economy. We should see some more green shoots across the rest of Europe by the summer."
"Did anyone say recession? Today's Ifo index shows that the German economy only made a short stopover at the end of last year and is now heading towards expansion again," said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels.
"The widely-spread fear that the euro zone's biggest economy could now also be caught by the crisis virus has been soothed."
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