German Ifo Confidence Declines After Winter Chilled Recovery
You are missing trading opportunities:
- Free trading apps
- Over 8,000 signals for copying
- Economic news for exploring financial markets
Registration
Log in
You agree to website policy and terms of use
If you do not have an account, please register
German business confidence fell for a second month in April after winter weather hindered the recovery in Europe’s largest economy.
The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, dropped to 104.4 from 106.7 in March. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast a decline to 106.2, according to the median of 44 estimates.
A gauge of industrial output signaled contraction after the coldest March in 25 years dragged on German growth, raising the risk that the economy fell into a recession in the first quarter. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on April 19 he hasn’t seen any improvement in economic data in the region as a whole, after hinting at the beginning of the month he might cut interest rates if the recovery faltered.
“We still expect there to have been a good rebound in the first quarter, although there is a big question mark about the weather,” said Anatoli Annenkov, senior economist at Societe Generale SA in London. “The temporary confidence shock from the Italian elections and the Cypriot bailout should fall out of sentiment indicators soon.”
read more ...