German Economic Sentiment Brightens in January -- ZEW Think Tank
January 17 2017 - 5:57AM
Dow Jones News
By Nina Adam
FRANKFURT--German economic sentiment brightened at the start of
the year, albeit by less than expected, a sign that many analysts
and institutional investors expect robust economic activity in the
first half of 2017.
Germany's ZEW think tank said Tuesday that its measure of
economic expectations rose to 16.6 points in January from 13.8 in
December. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast
an increase to 18.8 points.
The rise should be seen as a "leap of faith for 2017," said
Achim Wambach, the ZEW's president.
While the ZEW survey reflects the assessment of financial
analysts and institutional investors, many economists prefer to
look at business surveys, such as the purchasing managers index, to
gauge the underlying strength of Europe's largest economy.
Germany's economy grew 1.9% in 2016 from 2015 in
inflation-adjusted terms, which marks the highest growth rate since
2011, according to official data published last week.
By Nina Adam at nina.adam@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 17, 2017 05:42 ET (10:42 GMT)
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