German investor confidence dipped for the fifth consecutive month in August, breaking a four-month streak of solid gains that drove a rebound in German business sentiment last month.
The ZEW institute’s monthly survey of investors’ expectations showed that the balance fell to 6.4 in August from 7.4 the previous month. A reading above zero indicates a positive sentiment.
It was the first negative reading since April.
“Confidence in the economy among analysts and investors is falling again,” ZEW president Achim Wambach said in a statement Monday. “Growth of Germany’s economy this year is likely to be roughly in line with the initial estimations of the European Commission,” he added.
German analysts and investors had become increasingly upbeat about the German economy as the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and geopolitical tensions with North Korea seemed to provide a short-term boon to business confidence.
The ZEW index dropped for the fifth consecutive month in July to its lowest level since February. German companies are still more optimistic about the outlook for the coming year than they have been since 2012, ZEW said.
The hard data, meanwhile, also point to growth. Germany’s economy is likely to have expanded by a solid 0.5 percent in the second quarter after gaining momentum at the start of the year, Eurostat said last week.
— i, a.