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Feb 24, 2020, 8:09 PM GMT
#Economy

The Business Climate in Germany Defies Forecasts in Spite of the Coronavirus

The Ifo Institute for Economic Research released its monthly findings on the business climate in Germany earlier today, and the better-than-expected results surpassed the consensus forecasts.

It was expected that the index would depreciate from the recorded 96.0 points in January to a new low of 95.0 in February. Instead of that, the findings of the economic report surprised as the index recorded a marginal improvement to 96.1.

Germany Business Index

According to the findings of today’s report, the business climate in Germany is currently on its second-strongest level since July of 2019.

This is a somewhat surprising result given the swiftly increasing panic that is stemming from the aforementioned coronavirus epidemic and is currently weighing down on the European economy.

What is arguably more important, German businesses have not lost their confidence in the prospects of the economy, even though the week before last it was announced that the national GDP growth rate has remained flat at 0.00 per cent in Q4 of 2019.

This means that local investors and businesses remain optimistic concerning the future of the biggest economy in the Eurozone despite all of the headwinds that are currently distorting growth, both internal and external.

The reaction came in as a relief for the strained euro, which managed to register its second consecutive day of growth in over two weeks, which is welcoming news in light of the rising pressures currently affecting the European economy as a whole.

Meanwhile, the EURUSD managed to break out above the regression channel’s upper boundary, in confirmation of the rising bullish momentum in the short-term.

EURUSD 4H Price Chart