German consumer confidence improving, according to GfK

Consumer confidence in Germany is on the rise following four months of declines, according to a survey by market research firm GfK.

Its consumer confidence index for January increased to 9.4 from 9.3 the previous month, beating expectations of an unchanged reading.

Confidence in the economy was up 8.2 points to 2.9 in December, moving back into positive territory and ending a six-month drop.

“The terrorist attacks in Paris in mid-November and the resulting increased terror threat in Germany do not seem to be impacting German consumers,” GfK said.

“Thus, the good conditions domestically seem to be reassuming more importance.”

The consumer sentiment indicator from GfK is based on a survey of 2,000 Germans conducted each month on behalf of the European Commission.