The latest batch of German confidence indicators still points to a very anaemic recovery of the German economy after the cyclical bottoming out at the start of the year. Germany’s most prominent leading indicator, the Ifo index, dropped to 88.6 in June, from 89.3 in May. After three consecutive increases at the start of the year, business confidence has weakened again, illustrating that the cyclical bottoming out will not automatically be followed by a strong recovery. Today’s Ifo index weakening was exclusively driven by declining expectations, while the current assessment component remained unchanged, albeit at a ... (full story)