By Marco Babic
ZURICH (MaceNews) – Sentiment at German companies deteriorated in November, as a second wave of COVID-19 cases are dampening expectations, the Munich-based Ifo Institute said Tuesday.
The Business Climate Index fell for a second month to 90.7 in November from a revised 92.5 (92.7) the previous month. The decline was not as much as expected, with the median forecast of an Econoday survey calling for a decline to 90.1 within a range of 88.0 to 93.0.
Expectations for the next six months are largely responsible for the decline in overall sentiment, as “business uncertainty has risen,” Ifo said. The outlook component fell to 91.5 in November, at the lower end of expectations of 91.0 to 96.0 in the Econoday survey and below median forecast at 93.0.
Current conditions didn’t deteriorate as much as expected, falling to 90.0 in November from 90.4 (90.3) the previous month, well above the Econoday median of 87.0 and above the forecast range of 95.0 to 89.0.
Despite the overall decline, Ifo said that manufacturing was a “bright spot” with current conditions “markedly better” as order intake increased.
Among the other major sectors, services “dropped noticeably” and is negative for the first time since June, Ifo said and hotel and hospitality indicators “absolutely nosedived.”
Retailers reported businesses running “a lot less smoothly” while construction was mixed with current conditions slightly better with expectations more pessimistic.
Ifo will release the Business Climate Index for December on December 18 at 10:00am CET.
—
Contact this reporter: marco@macenews.com.
Content may appear first or exclusively on the Mace News premium service. For real-time email delivery contact tony@macenews.com. Twitter headlines @macenewsmacro.