German Investor Confidence Unexpectedly Improves In November: ZEW

German investor confidence improved in November, defying expectations for further weakness, survey data from the ZEW showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany rose to -24.1 from -24.7 in October, the Mannheim-based think tank said. Economists had forecast a score of -25.9. In September, the score was -10.6. Although the indicator has improved slightly, it is still clearly in negative territory and remains well below the long-term average of 22.7 points, the ZEW said. The current conditions index of the survey dropped sharply to 58.2 from 70.1. Economists had expected a reading of 63. The latest figure was the lowest since September 2016, when it was 55.1. "The figures for industrial production, retail sales and foreign trade in Germany all point towards a weak development of the German economy in the third quarter," ZEW President Achim Wambach said. This is reflected in the decline in the current conditions index, while there was hardly any improvement in the expectations of the survey participants, he noted. "This means that, at the moment, they do not expect to see a speedy recovery of the currently weak development of the economy," Wambach added. The investor confidence measure for Eurozone fell by 2.6 points to -22 and the current situation index eased by 13.8 points to 18.2. Hence, the outlook for the Eurozone has deteriorated even more than it has for Germany, ZEW said.