Energy Crisis in Germany: The 'Energy' Problem in Investor Confidence
High energy costs in Germany are having a negative impact on households and companies. These negative effects pulled investor confidence, which was already at low levels, further down in August.
ZEW Institute's investor expectations index continued to decline in August and came in at minus 55.3. In the previous month, the index was minus 53.8.
The expectation of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was minus 52.7. The deterioration in the current conditions index also continued. The index declined from minus 45.8 to minus 47.6.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, did not grow in the second quarter of the year due to reduced energy shipments from Russia.
"Still high inflation and the expectation of additional cost increases in energy have led to lower profitability expectations in the private consumption sector," said Michael Shcroeder, one of the ZEW Managers.
In addition, the resumption of Russian natural gas flows via the Nord Stream pipeline last month raised hopes that energy shortages would ease.