German Ifo Rises Above Expectations in February

February 24, 2014 Share Print 0

German business morale rose in February to its highest level since July 2011, suggesting Europe’s largest economy will grow faster in the first quarter after expanding only modestly last year.

The Munich-based Ifo think tank’s business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 companies, increased to 111.3, beating the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll that it would hold steady at 110.6. Economists said the survey pointed to an economic upturn.

“February’s German Ifo survey suggests that the economic recovery has continued to pick up some momentum in the early months of 2014,” said Jonathan Loynes, the chief European economist at Capital Economics.

The upbeat reading sent the euro to a day’s high and pushed German Bund futures down to a session low.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.