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Cautious German investors

April 16, 2013

German investors' spirits have been dampened recently by new troubles in the debt-stricken euro area. But a fresh survey bears out sentiments are still on a comfortably high level amid domestic growth expectations.

https://p.dw.com/p/18Ge1
Worker in a German mavhine tools company Photo: Jan Woitas dpa/lsn (zu dpa: «Maschinenbau auf rasantem Wachstumskurs») +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Investor sentiment in Germany experienced a marked drop in April, a survey by the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) showed on Tuesday.

The Mannheim-based think tank reported its confidence index fell by 12.2 points to 36.3 points in the month under revision, while analysts had penciled in a more modest decline.

ZEW questioned institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation and their expectations for the future. The sub-index gauging the respondents' view of their current situation dropped by 4.4 points in April.

EU finance ministers approve ten billion euro bailout for Cyprus

No need to panic

ZEW President Clemens Fuest said the monthly decline was no cause for alarm, although the figures brought to an end four consecutive monthly gains in the indicator.

"Despite the decline, the index currently hovers at its third highest mark within the past 24 months," Fuest commented. "Basically, the surveyed financial market experts remain fairly confident, but are less optimistic than they were in the previous month."

Fuest attributed the latest data to fresh uncertainties in the euro area, including the messy bailout of Cyprus and talk of a possible rescue package for Slovenia. The ZEW index set the stage for the release in the coming days of a raft of major economic sentiment surveys for Europe.

hg/mz (dpa, AFP, AP)