German Economic Sentiment Rises In September

(RTTNews) - German economic confidence improved in September but financial market experts remained cautiously optimistic, a monthly survey conducted by the think tank ZEW showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW indicator of economic confidence rose unexpectedly to 37.3 in September from 34.7 in the previous month. The score was expected to fall to 27.3.

However, the assessment of current situation continued to deteriorate. The corresponding index fell more-than-expected to -76.4 from -68.6 in August. The reading was seen at -75.

"Financial market experts are cautiously optimistic and the ZEW indicator has stabilized, but the economic situation has worsened," ZEW President Achim Wambach said.

"There are still considerable risks, as uncertainty about the US tariff policy and Germany's 'autumn of reforms' continues," Wambach added.

Data showed that the improvement in the outlook was evident in export-oriented sectors, which showed a strong decline recently.

Industries that benefited the most are the automotive sector, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and the metal sector. Nonetheless, all the three indicators continued to be in the negative range.

Expectations for the euro area also improved in September with the index rising to 26.1 from 25.1 in the previous month.

In contrast to the indicator for Germany, the assessment of the economic situation in the euro area advanced to -28.8 points from -31.2 in the previous month.