German IFO Business Climate Index disappoints with 95.9 in Jan, EUR/USD hits fresh lows

German IFO Business Climate Index came in at 95.9 in January.
German IFO Current Economic Assessment stood at 99.1 in January.
German IFO Expectations Index arrived at 92.9 in January.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The headline German IFO Business Climate Index came in at 95.9 in January, weaker than last month's 96.3 and missing the consensus estimates pointing to a reading of 97.0.

Meanwhile, the Current Economic Assessment arrived at 99.7 points in the reported month as compared to last month's 98.8 and 99.2 anticipated.

On the other hand, the IFO Expectations Index – indicating firms’ projections for the next six months, came in at 92.9 for Jan, down from previous month’s 93.8 reading and missed market expectations of 95.0

About German IFO

The headline IFO business climate index was rebased and recalibrated in April after the IFO research Institute changed series from the base year of 2000 to the base year of 2005 as of May 2011 and then changed series to include services as of April 2018. The survey now includes 9,000 monthly survey responses from firms in the manufacturing, service sector, trade and construction.

FX Implications

The downbeat German IFO numbers served revived the selling interest in the euro, knocking-off EUR/USD to a new session low of 1.1017. The spot remains vulnerable, as the safe-haven appeal of the US dollar remains underpinned amid growing concerns over the China coronavirus outbreak.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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