German investor sentiment improves in January - ZEW

(Sharecast News) - German business sentiment improved in January, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim. The headline ZEW investor expectations index rose to 15.2 from 12.8 in December, coming in above consensus expectations for a reading of 12.0.

Meanwhile, the current conditions index fell to -77.3 in January from -77.1 the month before.

ZEW President Achim Wambach said: "Economic expectations for Germany have improved again. This is because now more than half of the respondents assume that the ECB will make interest rate cuts in the first half of the year. There are even more pronounced shifts in US interest rate expectations.

"More than two-thirds of the respondents predict interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve in the next six months. The rise in inflation in Germany and the eurozone in December thus has no impact on the monetary policy expectations of the respondents."