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German investor sentiment bucks worries

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
German investor sentiment bucks worries
Photo: DPA

Investment sentiment in Germany, Switzerland's biggest trade partner, rose for the third month in a row in January, shrugging off the market turmoil sparked by the Greek political crisis and the Swiss franc shock, a survey found on Tuesday.

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The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute jumped 13.5 points to 48.4 points in January, its highest level in 11 months, ZEW said in a statement.
   
"The new year started with turmoil in the capital markets. News of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Greece and the Swiss National Bank's decision to abandon the euro cap on the franc's value have led to strong stock market fluctuations," said ZEW president Clemens Füst.
   
"However, this seems not to have impressed ZEW's financial market experts with regard to their expectations for the German economy. Instead, decreasing crude oil prices and a depreciating euro have contributed to a further gain of the indicator," Füst said.
   
For the survey, ZEW questions analysts and institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation in Germany, as well as their expectations for the coming months.
   
The sub-index measuring financial market players' view of the current economic situation in Germany jumped by 12.4 points to 22.4 points in January.
   
A frequent criticism of the ZEW index is that it can be volatile and is therefore not always reliable.

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