German investor confidence fell again in July after tumbling the previous month due to ongoing Middle East tensions, the US-China trade dispute and uncertainty over Britain's EU exit. Expectations for Europe's biggest economy in the coming months, which suffered a 19-point crash in June, fell a further 3.4 to -24.5 points, according to the ZEW institute's sounding of almost 200 analysts and financial players.
A negative trend of incoming orders for German industry "is likely to have reinforced the financial market experts' pessimistic sentiment," said ZEW president Achim Wambach. "A lasting containment of the factors that are causing uncertainty in the export-oriented sectors of the German economy is currently not in sight." He said the flare up over Iran's nuclear programme and trade friction between the US and China were weighing on confidence.
"Furthermore, no discernible progress has been made in the negotiations as to what Brexit will look like," Wambach said. Investors' judgement of the economic outlook in the eurozone stayed low at -20.3 points, down 0.1 point, after plunging 18.6 points in June. After dropping into negative territory early last year, the German index posted steady gains in 2019 to turn positive in April, only to fall back sharply again.
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