German business confidence heads south to 5-year minimum in February

German business confidence heads south to 5-year minimum in February

In February, German business confidence reached hit its weakest value for almost five years without any signs of a turnaround yet in sight, as follows from a closely-watched business poll published on Friday.

As the Munich-based Ifo economic institute informed, its business climate index, built around a monthly poll of businesses, went down to 98.5 in February, which appears to be its lowest result since November 2014.

The given outcome turned out to be inferior to experts’ estimates for 99.0.

The index’ forward-looking component, gauging business's hopes, went down even more steeply to its lowest value since 2012, at the depths of the euro's existential downtime.

The motor of the European Union, Germany's export-driven economy, has speeded down steeply under the influence of the trade conflict between China and America, uncertainty over Britain’s escape from the EU as well as a threat of higher levies on German-made cars from American leader.

Earlier on Friday, Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, officially confirmed that in the fourth quarter the country’s GDP stagnated. To put that another way, it means that the German economy managed to dodge a meltdown having contracted for the last three months.

Notwithstanding the fact that ZEW's indicator of investor confidence surged to a five-month maximum, its president Achim Wambach told that neither the institute nor the analysts it polled actually expect a fast revival.

In its latest monthly report, the country’s key financial institution told that recent dismal outcomes in factory orders along with a dive in business confidence hinted at minor hope of an immediate rebound for the Germen economy.

It forecast that the underlying tempo of the Germen economy needs to stay subdued at least in the first half of 2019, although it told that there aren’t any signs that the deceleration is turning into an outright downturn.

Similar

CPI Wednesday: the Doomsday for EURUSD and GBPUSD?
CPI Wednesday: the Doomsday for EURUSD and GBPUSD?

Today, the US Inflation release at 15:30 GMT+3 will determine the further destiny of the major pairs and gold. The event is highly impactful, as the Federal Reserve will make decisions regarding further rate hikes based on it. Also, we brought you some news about XAUUSD and GBPUSD. Stay tuned!

Latest news

Gold Rises as Central Banks Buy More
Gold Rises as Central Banks Buy More

About 24% of global central banks intend to increase gold reserves in 2023. Rising inflation, geopolitical turmoil, and worries about interest rates are reasons to increase gold reserves.

US Evades Default This Time
US Evades Default This Time

Greetings to a brand new week full of events, economic releases and US debt frictions. We are here to tell you everything you need to know!

USD Gains Momentum
USD Gains Momentum

The US dollar index breaks one resistance after another. Read the report to learn the next target for the US dollar index!

Deposit with your local payment systems

Feel the Team Spirit

Data collection notice

FBS maintains a record of your data to run this website. By pressing the “Accept” button, you agree to our Privacy policy.

Callback

A manager will call you shortly.

Change number

Your request is accepted.

A manager will call you shortly.

Next callback request for this phone number
will be available in

If you have an urgent issue please contact us via
Live chat

Internal error. Please try again later

Don’t waste your time – keep track of how NFP affects the US dollar and profit!

Beginner Forex book

Beginner Forex book will guide you through the world of trading.

Beginner Forex book

The most important things to start trading
Enter your e-mail, and we will send you a free Beginner Forex book

Thank you!

We've emailed a special link to your e-mail.
Click the link to confirm your address and get Beginner Forex book for free.

You are using an older version of your browser.

Update it to the latest version or try another one for a safer, more comfortable and productive trading experience.

Safari Chrome Firefox Opera