German ZEW indicator slumps
July 16, 2013
Germany's widely watched investor sentiment index fell by 2.2 points to 36.3 points in July, ZEW economic think tank announced Tuesday.
Even though the barometer remained well above the historical average of about 23 points, the reading for this month disappointed analysts who had forecast a rise to around 40 points in an earlier poll.
Nevertheless, financial market experts were sticking to their overall positive forecast for the German economy, said ZEW president Clemens Fuest.
"This illustrates their confidence in the robustness of the economy despite rather weak figures concerning industrial production and foreign trade released recently," he added.
According to German Economics Ministry figures, industrial production in Europe's biggest economy fell 1 percent in May over April. Moreover, exports, which are the backbone of the German economy, dropped by 2.4 percent. The figures suggest that the recovery expected for the first half of the year, may turn out to be weaker than forecast.
Nevertheless, the ZEW sub-index measuring opinions about the current economic situation in Germany rose 2 points to 10.6 points.
uhe / rg (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)