Forexpros – Germany’s consumer climate indicator for July rose unexpectedly, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, market research group Gfk said its index of Germany’s consumer climate eased up by 0.1 points to 5.8 in July, confounding expectations for a 0.1 point decline to 5.6.
The index stood at 5.7 in June.
While the rise in income expectations was substantial and willingness to buy improved slightly, economic expectations plummeted.
Following three consecutive increases, economic optimism of Germans fell quite noticeably in June. The indicator value dropped 16.6 points and now stands at 3 points, the lowest value since December 2011.
At the time of the survey, turbulence in the euro zone due to the unknown outcome of the Greek elections and rescue measures for the Spanish banking sector put a considerable damper on the economic optimism of consumers.
Following the release of the data, the euro was mildly higher against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD adding 0.14% to trade at 1.2520.
Meanwhile, the outlook for European stock markets was mostly higher. The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a gain of 0.25%, France’s CAC 40 futures rose 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 futures added 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX futures pointed to a gain of 0.4% at the open.
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