PARIS (Reuters) – The morale of German entrepreneurs has progressed as planned in March, shows an investigation by the IFO Institute published on Tuesday, carried out by the hope of an economic recovery after two years of contraction.
The business climate index was 86.7 this month, in accordance with the expectations of economists interviewed by Reuters and after 85.2 in February.
The component of the judgment of business leaders on their current conditions of activity was 85.7 after 85 last month and that measuring the evolution of their anticipations at 87.7 after 85.4 in February.
Reuters’ forecasts were 85.5 and 87.5 respectively.
“German companies hope for a recovery,” said Clemens Fuest, president of IFO, while the institution provides for gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2025 after a contraction of 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
“The latest reading of the IFO index suggests that a progressive cyclic rebound is underway,” reacted ING economists in a note on Tuesday, highlighting the optimism linked to recent budgetary announcements and the probable return to growth during the year.
Following the publication, the German yields evolved slightly, the rate of ten years reinforcing 4.4 pb to 2.817% and that of the two years of 2.4 pb to 2.151%.
The Dax in Frankfurt was reinforced by 0.49% around 10:32 GMT while the Stoxx 600 took 0.52%.
(Written by Bertrand de Meyer, with Rachel More and Maria Martinez in Berlin, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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