German ZEW Investor Confidence Rises More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Germany's investor sentiment rose more than expected in November and moved into the positive territory for the first time in seven months amid an improvement in economic expectations, survey results from the think tank ZEW showed Tuesday.

The economic sentiment index rose for the fourth month in a row to 9.8 points from -1.1 in October. Economists had forecast a score of 5.0 points. The reading moved into the positive territory for the first time since April, when it was at 4.1 points.

However, the current situation index of the survey was largely unchanged. The reading edged up to -79.8 from -79.9. Economists had expected a score of -76.9. "These observations support the impression that the economic development in Germany has bottomed out," ZEW President Achim Wambach said.

Wambach described the stable assessment of the current situation as "remarkable" in the backdrop of the weakening view of the overall economic situation in the eurozone. "The heightened economic expectations are accompanied by significantly more optimistic outlooks for the German industrial sector and both domestic and foreign stock markets," Wambach said.

"Inflation and short- and long-term interest rates also appear to have reached turning points in expectations." The ZEW survey also showed that the investor confidence index for the euro area climbed sharply by 11.5 points to 13.8 and was now clearly in positive territory. Meanwhile, the current situation measure for the eurozone shed 9.4 points to reach minus 61.8 points.