German Business Confidence Improves

German business confidence improved slightly for the first time in five months in June, offering a small spark of hope, a key survey showed on Monday. The widely watched business climate index, calculated each month by the Ifo economic research institute, rose to 93.3 points in June from 92.9 points in May, Ifo said in a statement. The reading was exactly in line with analysts' expectations. "The index has risen slightly after declining in the preceding four months," Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn said. "Companies are not only fractionally more confident about their current business, but are also noticeably more optimistic with regard to the outlook for the next six months," Sinn said. For its monthly survey, Ifo polls around 7,000 companies about their assessment of current business and their expectations for the next six months. A breakdown of the data showed that the current sentiment sub-index edged up to 93.7 points in June from 93.4 points in May. And the expectations sub-index rose to 92.9 points from 92.3 points.