German investor sentiment deteriorates less than expected - ZEW

German investor sentiment deteriorated a little less than expected in April, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim.

The headline ZEW investor expectations index fell to -41 from -39.3 in March, coming in ahead of expectations for a reading of -48.

Meanwhile, the current situation index printed at -30.8 in April, down from -21.4 the month before and versus expectations of -35.

ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach said: "The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment remains at a low level. The experts are pessimistic about the current economic situation and assume that it will continue to deteriorate.

"The decline in inflation expectations, which cuts the previous month’s considerable increase by about half, gives some cause for hope. However, the prospect of stagflation over the next six months remains."

Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at Capital Economics, said: "Although it was a little above the consensus forecast, it is still at a very low level and underlines that investor sentiment has fallen off a cliff since the start of the Ukraine war."