ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for January: A Ray of Hope

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany increases in January for the first time in seven months. It now stands at +14.0 points, which corresponds to a rise of 13.4 points compared with the previous month's result.

"There is a ray of hope on the horizon. Nevertheless, the crisis in Iraq and uncertainties over the future course of economic policy in Germany still pose considerable risks," says ZEW president Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Franz. Analysts expect oil prices to fall over the medium term and this has had a positive effect on this month's indicator. Furthermore, share prices have recovered from the depths of last October and thus strike a more confident note.

In January, expectations for the eurozone economy reached 29.9 points compared to 27.1 points in December.

323 analysts and institutional investors participated in this month's ZEW Financial Markets Survey which is conducted on a monthly basis by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim. The participants were 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 within a timeframe of six months.

Contact

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

Volker Kleff, E-mail: kleff@zew.de

David Lahl, E-mail: lahl@zew.de