Both Expectations and Assessment of the Current Situation Improve

In June 2020, the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany increased for the third consecutive time. The indicator currently stands at 63.4 points, which corresponds to a rise of 12.4 points compared with the May result. The assessment of the economic situation in Germany has improved for the first time since January 2020. In the current survey, the corresponding indicator stands at minus 83.1 points, 10.4 points higher than in the previous month.

“There is growing confidence that the economy will bottom out by summer 2020. This is reflected in the renewed rise of the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment as well as the more optimistic assessment of the current situation. The expected earnings for the individual sectors in Germany still vary greatly. Earnings expectations are strongly negative for export-oriented sectors such as automotive and mechanical engineering, as well as the financial sector. In contrast, forecasts are fairly positive for information technologies, telecommunications and consumer-oriented services. The financial market experts continue to expect only a slow increase in economic value added in the third and fourth quarters,” comments ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach.

Financial market experts’ sentiment concerning the economic development of the eurozone also improved once again, with the corresponding indicator climbing 12.6 points to a current level of 58.6 points compared to the previous month. The indicator for the current economic situation in the eurozone climbed 5.4 points to a level of minus 89.6 points.

More information and studies on the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment and the release dates 2020 (as PDF file, 28 KB) and the historical time series (as Excel file, 81 KB)