German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index unexpectedly rises to 12.8 in December vs. 8.8 expected

Germany’s ZEW Economic Sentiment Index improved to 12.8 in December.
EUR/USD is holding higher near 1.0800 after the mixed ZEW surveys.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The headline German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index unexpectedly improved to 12.8 in December from 9.8 in November. The market expected an 8.8 readout.

However, the Current Situation Index dropped to -77.1 from -79.8 prior, missing estimates of -75.5.

During the same period, the Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment Index jumped to 23.0, compared to a 13.8 figure registered in November. The data surpassed expectations of 12.0.

Key points

Despite the current budget crisis, the assessment of the situation and economic expectations for germany have once again slightly improved.

This is due to the fact that the share of respondents expecting interest rate cuts by the ECB in the medium term has doubled.

Good news for German construction industry, for which we observe significantly more optimistic expectations this month.

Share of respondents expecting inflation rates to fall further is decreasing.

Market reaction

The EUR/USD pair is testing intraday highs near 1.0800 after ZEW surveys, adding 0.32% on the day.

Euro price today

The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the strongest against the US Dollar.

	USD	EUR	GBP	CAD	AUD	JPY	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.26%	-0.08%	-0.09%	-0.41%	-0.48%	-0.49%	-0.11%
EUR	0.25%		0.17%	0.18%	-0.17%	-0.25%	-0.24%	0.15%
GBP	0.09%	-0.17%		0.01%	-0.32%	-0.39%	-0.38%	-0.02%
CAD	0.08%	-0.17%	-0.01%		-0.31%	-0.39%	-0.41%	-0.03%
AUD	0.40%	0.15%	0.32%	0.32%		-0.11%	-0.09%	0.27%
JPY	0.49%	0.23%	0.41%	0.38%	0.10%		0.01%	0.38%
NZD	0.49%	0.23%	0.40%	0.40%	0.09%	-0.01%		0.37%
CHF	0.09%	-0.16%	0.01%	0.02%	-0.30%	-0.41%	-0.39%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).

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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