German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index improves to 15.2 in January vs. 12.0 expected
- Germany’s ZEW Economic Sentiment Index climbs to 15.2 in January.
- EUR/USD is holding lower ground below 1.0900 after mixed ZEW surveys.
The headline German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index improved further to 15.2 in January from 12.8 in December. The market forecast was 12.0.
However, the Current Situation Index dropped to -77.3 from -77.1 prior, missing estimates of -77.0.
The Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment Index came in at 22.7 in the same period, as against the December reading of 23.0. The data exceeded expectations of 21.9.
Key points
Economic expectations for Germany have improved again.
This is because now more than half of the respondents assume that the ECB will make interest rate cuts in the first half of the year.
There are even more pronounced shifts in the US interest rate expectations.
More than two-thirds of the respondents predict interest rate cuts by the US Fed in the next six months.
The rise in inflation in Germany and the Eurozone in December thus has no impact on the monetary policy expectations of the respondents.
Market reaction
The EUR/USD pair is testing intraday lows near 1.0880 after mixed ZEW surveys, losing 0.58% on the day.
Euro price today
The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the weakest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | 0.53% | 0.57% | 0.45% | 0.68% | 0.51% | 0.49% | 0.53% | |
| EUR | -0.56% | 0.03% | -0.10% | 0.13% | -0.04% | -0.07% | -0.03% | |
| GBP | -0.59% | -0.07% | -0.16% | 0.15% | -0.09% | -0.09% | -0.07% | |
| CAD | -0.47% | 0.09% | 0.11% | 0.30% | 0.07% | 0.01% | 0.09% | |
| AUD | -0.69% | -0.21% | -0.15% | -0.31% | -0.23% | -0.23% | -0.22% | |
| JPY | -0.51% | 0.03% | 0.07% | -0.08% | 0.19% | 0.03% | 0.02% | |
| NZD | -0.49% | 0.03% | 0.09% | -0.08% | 0.23% | 0.00% | 0.02% | |
| CHF | -0.54% | 0.00% | 0.07% | -0.09% | 0.20% | -0.03% | -0.02% |
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.
