German Gfk consumer sentiment for April, dropped slightly to 10.4, down from 10.7 and missed expectation of 10.8. Gfk noted that consumer mood looks “somewhat more balanced” than in previous months. And more importantly, decline in economic expectation halted, “at least temporarily. The index rose 7 pts to 11.2 even though it’s way off last year’s 45.9.
Consumers are “certainly not assuming that Germany will fall into recession this year”, just a “noticeable cooling off of economic activity”. Gfk k added that this is due to the so called “Five Sages” have lowered lowered their original growth forecast for this year from 1.7 to just 0.8 percent.
Also, the downturn is more due to foreign than domestic economic factors, including the “lack of decisiveness” regarding Brexit data and nature, as well as US-EU trade conflicts.
