German Investor Confidence Slightly Lower

Bloomberg reports:

German investor confidence unexpectedly declined for the first time in three months in October amid concerns that the pace of the nascent recovery in Europe’s largest economy may ease.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict developments six months ahead, dropped to 56 from 57.7 in September. Economists had forecast an increase to 58.8, the median of 36 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Germany’s benchmark DAX index has surged around 57 percent since early March as the economy pulled out of the worst recession since World War II. While growth probably accelerated in the third quarter, according to the Bundesbank, the pace of the recovery may be tempered by rising unemployment, the fading of stimulus measures and the euro’s increase against the dollar.

“Enthusiasm is now gradually giving way to realism and the German economy is about to enter calmer waters,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Groep in Brussels. Today’s reading is “no reason to fall back into depression.”

Source: ZEW