German Consumer Confidence Is Expected to Increase in October
September 28 2021 - 2:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Martinez
Consumer sentiment in Germany is expected to strengthen in
October, reaching its highest level for the last year and a half,
according to data from market-research group GfK released on
Tuesday.
GfK's forward-looking consumer sentiment index forecasts
confidence among households rising to 0.3 point in October from
minus 1.1 points in September. Economists polled by The Wall Street
Journal anticipate a drop, expecting sentiment to decline to minus
1.9 points.
The number of new Covid-19 cases is declining slightly and
consumers are more optimistic that another wave will be less
pronounced than feared, Rolf Buerkl, consumer expert at GfK,
said.
"Even if the consumer sentiment has almost reached its
pre-crisis level, it is still too early for talk of a fundamental
trend shift," Mr. Buerkl said.
GfK uses data from three subindexes from the current month to
derive a sentiment figure for the coming month, measuring
consumers' economic expectations, income expectations and
propensity to buy. In September, the three indicators posted
gains.
Economic expectations rose to 48.5 in September from 40.8 in
August, signaling that consumers consider the German economy on
course for recovery, although the momentum is somewhat more
moderate than expected a few months ago.
Income expectations increased to 37.4 in September from 30.5 in
August, suggesting that rising prices haven't affected households'
outlook on their personal financial situation.
"Extremely stable employment figures ensure that unemployment
fears and the associated worry about loss of earnings do not
currently play a notable role," the report said.
The propensity to buy increased to 13.4 in September from 10.3
in August. In contrast to economic and income expectations, the
propensity to consume is at a low level, GfK said.
"Despite well-filled wallets, the obligation to wear masks and
maintain social-distancing rules dampen any enthusiasm to shop,"
GfK said. The propensity to consume will only be able to recover
sustainably once these restrictions cease to exist, the
market-research group said.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2021 02:14 ET (06:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.