2021.04.1312:25:00UTC+00German ZEW Economic Sentiment Falls Unexpectedly In April

German economic sentiment deteriorated unexpectedly in April amid the third wave of infections, survey results from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed on Tuesday. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell 5.9 points to 70.7 points from 76.6 in March, while the score was forecast to climb to 79.0. This was the first time that the indicator has experienced a drop since November 2020.

However, expectations are still at a very high level, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the assessment of the economic situation advanced 12.2 points to minus 48.8 points. The expected reading was minus 53.0.

The financial market experts are somewhat less euphoric than in the previous month, ZEW President Achim Wambach, said.

Fears of a stricter lockdown have led to a decline in expectations for private consumption, Wambach noted. Nevertheless, the outlook for exports is better than in the previous month.

Economic confidence in the euro area also weakened in April. The corresponding index declined 7.7 points to 66.3. By contrast, the indicator for the current economic situation climbed 4.3 points to a level of minus 65.5 points.

The survey showed that inflation expectations for the Eurozone dropped 5.5 points to 75.1 points. The corresponding indicator still points to an increase in inflation over the next six months.