ZEW Financial Market Survey: Economic Expectations Are Going Further Downhill

Economic expectations for Germany have continued their downfall in February and currently stand at -6.1 points, according to the ZEW Financial Market Survey. Compared to the previous month, that is a decrease of 1.7 percent. Therefore, a trend that has been going on for months is continuing in February.

The ZEW Financial Market Survey is carried out monthly by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and includes 400 analysts and institutional investors, who are asked about their medium-term expectations concerning economic activity and capital markets. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment shows the balance between positive and negative expectations regarding future economic activity in Germany.

A growing number of analysts apparently expect the strong chill of the US economy to have a significant effect on the economic situation in Germany. As a consequence, about the quarters of the surveyed expect the European Central Bank to lower interests, just as the Federal Reserve did.

Contact

Dr Felix Hüfner, E-mail:huefner@zew.de