German ZEW Economic Confidence Deteriorates

(RTTNews) - German economic sentiment deteriorated in November as the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election and the collapse of the German government coalition damped expectations, survey results from the think tank ZEW showed Tuesday. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment dropped to 7.4 in November from 13.1 in the previous month. The index was expected to remain broadly unchanged at 13.2.

Investors were increasingly pessimistic about the current economic situation. The corresponding index dropped 4.5 points to -91.4. This was weaker than economists' forecast of -86.0.

ZEW President Achim Wambach said the outcome of the US presidential election is likely to be the major reason for the fall in economic expectations. "The fact that economic expectations for the USA are clearly rising, while economic sentiment for China and the eurozone is falling, supports this view," Wambach said.

"Still, more optimistic voices were heard in the last survey days, expecting economic prospects for Germany to improve with snap elections on the horizon," he added. The economic confidence for the eurozone also declined in November. The sentiment index slid 7.6 points to 12.5 in November. However, the assessment of the current economic situation dropped moderately by 3.0 points to -43.8 in November.