German investor sentiment deteriorates in February

German investor confidence deteriorated in February, albeit a little less than expected, according to the latest survey from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim.

The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment for Germany fell to 1.0 point from 10.2 the previous month, but was still a little better than the 0 reading expected by economists.

The index that gauges investors’ and analysts’ assessment of the current situation in Germany fell 7.4 points from the previous month to 52.3, missing forecasts of 55.5.

Meanwhile, the indicator of economic sentiment for the Eurozone fell 9.1 points to a reading of 13.6 points, versus expectations for a reading of 10.3.

The assessment of the current situation slipped 0.5 points to -8.0.

"The looming slowdown of the world economy and the uncertain consequences of the falling oil price put a strain on the ZEW indicator of economic sentiment. In view of these developments, the concern over an increased credit default risk has already caused stock and bond prices for many banks in Europe, Japan and the US to slump," said Professor Sascha Steffen, head of the International Finance and Financial Management research department at ZEW.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said the survey was poor.

“A marginal beat of the consensus for the expectations index offers scant consolation. This is a poor report, consistent with weakness in the Sentix survey earlier this month. The expectations index is now almost as low as during the aggressive sell-off in Q4 14, which prompted the ECB to throw caution to the wind and launch QE.”