On what was a relatively quiet day, we saw the German Ifo business climate reading for December. It has been expected to dip to 101.8 from 102 the previous month, but it actually came in at 101. It is the fourth decline in a row and the lowest reading since September 2016 and is thanks, in large part, to continuing global trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty.
The Ifo President, Clemens Fuest, said that Germany’s economy appears to be cooling and the majority of industries worried about their future prospects. The euro made some very slight gains against the dollar in what has been a pretty quiet week for currency moves so far this week, although that could change in the next few days with the Fed’s interest rate decision and accompanying press conference due later tonight.
Today’s only economic data release of note from the eurozone is the construction output reading for October. Last time around, the figure was an impressive 4.6% so it will be interesting to see whether the momentum can be sustained this time around, or whether it will drop to pour more pressure on the eurozone’s economy.
