German investor confidence up on growth hopes

Bloomberg

Investor confidence in Germany’s growth outlook improved for the sixth consecutive month, underpinning hope for an economic rebound later this year. A gauge measuring prospects for the next half year rose to 3.1 in April, beating an estimate for a gain to 0.5. The positive reading means optimists are outnumbering pessimists among survey participants for the first time since March last year.
The slight improvement “is largely based on the hope that the global economic environment will develop less poorly than previously assumed. The postponement of the Brexit deadline may also have contributed to buoy the economic outlook,” ZEW President Achim Wambach said. “By contrast, the latest figures regarding incoming orders and industrial production in the German industry point to a rather weak economic development.”
Some 28.6 percent of respondents said that the outlook for the German economy improved, compared with 25.5 percent who saw a deterioration. Investors were most pessimistic about the car industry, steel manufacturing and banking.