| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 08:00 | Germany | IFO - Current Assessment | April | 88.1 | 89 | 88.9 |
| 08:00 | Germany | IFO - Expectations | April | 87.7 | 88.9 | 89.9 |
| 08:00 | Germany | IFO - Business Climate | April | 87.9 | 88.9 | 89.4 |
EUR weakened against other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday as Ifo Institute’s survey, showing stronger-than-expected improvement in the business climate in Germany, the euro area’s largest economy, did not prompt a significant revision of markets’ expectations regarding the future path of the Europen Central Bank’s interest rates.
Ifo Institute reported earlier today that its business confidence indicator for Germany - the Business Climate Index - rose to 89.4 in April from an upwardly revised 87.9 points (from 87.8) in March. This marked the third straight month of improvements and surpassed economists’ forecast of 88.9. In addition, the April reading was the highest since last May (91.4).
The stronger-than-anticipated improvement in the German companies’ sentiment, which reflected increased satisfaction of businesses with their current situation and brightened expectations for the next six months, encouraged expectations of the Eurozone growth but was not enough to cause a material impact on the ECB rate bets.