German investor morale falls at the fastest pace since early 2022 in April – ZEW

The data from ZEW economic research institute released on Tuesday, showed that German investor morale fell to -14 in April, compared to rise to 51.6 points previous month and well below expectations for rise to 10.6 points.

April’s decline was sharp and marks the strongest deceleration since early 2022, when war in Ukraine started, mainly driven by high uncertainty over the latest packages of US import tariffs which added to already weak economic conditions in EU’s largest economy.

ZEW president highlighted that it is not only the consequences the announced reciprocal tariffs may have on global trade, but also the dynamics of their changes that have massively increased global uncertainty, that keeps the outlook darkened.

The separate report showed that assessments of the current economic situation have slightly improved, with the corresponding indicator, which ranges from -100 to +100 increasing to -81.2 points in April from -87.6 in March and -86 forecast, although slightly better numbers are unlikely to significantly impact overall very negative picture.