German business morale surged at
its fastest pace in over two years in February, pushing higher for a fourth
consecutive month and pointing to a solid recovery in Europe's largest economy
after a dismal end to 2012.
The Munich-based Ifo think tank
said on Friday its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some
7,000 firms, rose to 107.4 in February, up from a revised 104.3 in January.
That was the biggest one-month
rise since July 2010 and beat even the highest estimate of 106.2 in a Reuters
poll of 41 economists, which had a median forecast of 105.0. The euro and
European shares rose after the data, while German bond futures fell.
Germany's economy shrank by 0.6
percent in the fourth quarter, succumbing to a sharp fall in demand from its
euro zone trading partners, but economists expect the gloom to be short-lived
and do not see Germany slipping into a recession, defined as two quarters of
contraction.
"German economic confidence
surveys seem to be showing more signs of economic spring, but the economy is
still struggling with a massive millstone round its neck, the rest of the
beleaguered euro zone economy," said David Brown of New View Economics.
No comments:
Post a Comment