Germany: Economic sentiment falls to a five-month low in August
Economic sentiment fell to 90.5 in August from July’s 92.2. August’s result marked the worst reading since March. As a result, the index remained below the long-term average of 100, pointing to a muted near-term outlook for the economy.
The headline print reflected deteriorating sentiment in the industrial sector and among consumers. Moreover, confidence in the services sector cooled in August. More positively, sentiment in the retail and construction sectors improved in the surveyed month.
Considering indicators that are not used to calculate the index, employment expectations weakened, while the economic uncertainty index fell in August.