06 July 2014
Posted in sentix Economic News

After having receded for two months in a row, the sentix economic index (composite index) for the euro zone increases again in July by 1.6 to now 10.1 points. On the one hand, investors assess the current economic situation as being better than last month. On the other hand, 6-month expectations also increase slightly after having weakened for four consecutive months. This stabilisation of expectations coincides with a European Central Bank taking new expansionary monetary measures. But a probably more important impact for the euro zone comes from the world economy as expectations improve even more strongly for the other regions in the survey. Posi-tive developments are especially pronounced for the US and for Japan. This should also have had a positive influence on investors' judgments concerning the euro area, too. Consequently, the euro zone now seems to bene-fit from a stronger world economy, while it was itself a prominent motor of global growth until just a few months ago.

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09 June 2014
Posted in sentix Economic News

For the euro zone the sentix Economic Index (composite index) drops markedly in June. This is its second decrease in a row. Investors judge the current situation much worse than in the previous month, and their 6-monthexpectations also decline. The clear setback of the euro-zone index surprises as, in June, investors assess the economic conditions for the remaining world regions as better than before. It is mainly the emerging markets for which their sentiment brightens. The euro-zone indicators' decrease all the more comes as a surprise as the European Central Bank has just announced a whole package of new measures to push economic growth and inflation. But investors so far do not see this aspect of the ECB's policy while they do expect strong effects on the bond market, as complementary sentix data show. 

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05 May 2014
Posted in sentix Economic News

Last month we pointed to the fact that the German economy had lost steam and had probably seen its best times in the current upswing already. Now, it looks as if the economy of the euro zone will suffer the same fate: While assessments of the current situation continue their way up, investors' 6-month expectations are down markedly in May. They fall for the third time in a row. This usually hints at a trend reversal. For Germany, the observations are quite similar: Here, too, the composite index retreats because expectations fall. At the same time the current situation is seen in a better shape than last month. The difference to the euro zone is that for Germany the composite index worsens since February already. For the other countries and regions, the composite indices are also weaker than in April. The developments are especially pronounced for Japan and Eastern Europe.

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06 April 2014
Posted in sentix Economic News

The sentix economic index (composite index) for Germany falls in April for the third time in a row. While 6-month-expectations have been dragging down the indicator over the past months, it is now also the assessment of the current situation which is not lending support to the composite index anymore. The German economy thus loses steam. The big question now is how the euro-zone economy will react to this. Still, it is looking robust: The composite index for the euro area increases, once more, slightly. But expectations are down a little for the sec-ond consecutive month. For the rest of the world sentiment is improving slightly in April. Investors are again more upbeat for the emerg-ing-markets regions after last month's Crimean crisis shock. Also do they see improvements for the US. But sor-rows are growing for Japan: Here, the composite index falls markedly for the third time in a row. 6-month-expectations for Japan's economy have now reached a level last seen in November 2012. That was exactly the time when the so-called "Abenomics" started to take effects on investors' confidence. Their positive impact has obviously faded now.

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