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Investors sense timid recovery

June 18, 2013

German investors are confident their country keeps moving towards an economic recovery based on strong domestic demand, a leading think tank has said. Its latest sentiment barometer pointed slightly upwards.

https://p.dw.com/p/18rZz
Worker checking a turbine in Germany Photo: Oliver Berg dpa +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

German investor sentiment rose by 2.1 points to 38.5 points in June in a monthly barometer from the Mannheim-based economic research institute ZEW.

The think tank polled investors and analysts about their expectations for the German economy in the next six months as well as about their assessments of the current situation in the country.

"The rise in the ZEW index is soothing," VP Bank economist Thomas Gitzel told the German DPA news agency. "I think you should be pleased at any positive long-range indicators, regardless of whether they're above or below analysts' forecasts.

Bright spot

Timid recovery

ZEW President Clemens Fuest said the data had not necessarily pointed to a sustainable recovery yet. "The findings of the survey suggest that the economic pickup will be a patchy one," Fuest commented. "Almost half of the respondents thought there would be no significant spurt in the economy in the coming second half of the year," he added.

Markets usually pay close attention to the indicator which sets the stage for a series of major sentiment surveys across Europe. But Frankfurt's main DAX index showed little change on ZEW's announcement on Tuesday noon.

While the investors polled were reasonably optimistic about the future, their assessments of the current situation saw the ZEW's sub-index drop by 0.3 points to 8.6 points in June. Analysts had penciled in a slight improvement, though.

hg/msh (AFP, Reuters)