German investor confidence fell to the lowest level since 2012 as the crisis in Ukraine and a sluggish euro-area recovery damp the outlook for Europe’s largest economy.
The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, dropped to 8.6 in August from 27.1 in July. Economists forecast a decrease to 17, according to the median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. This was the eighth consecutive monthly decline and the biggest in more than two years.
A worsening standoff between Russia and the European Union is clouding the outlook for a German economy that probably contracted for the first time since 2012 in the second quarter. The disruption to trade threatens to weigh on the revival in the 18-nation euro area, which has already seen Italy slip back into recession.
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