THE TAKEAWAY: Germany ZEW survey better than expected -> Germany in better situation than other EZ economies -> Euro surges above 1.3200
Germany’s ZEW Survey of investor confidence showed an improving outlook for economic growth in the Eurozone’s largest economy. The current situation gauge rose to 40.3 in February, above the previous reading of 28.4 and the expected 30.5. Economic sentiment came in at 5.4, above the expected -11.8 and previous -21.6.
The data comes amid a round of credit rating cuts my the Moody’s agency. Italy, Spain, and Portugal were all downgraded yesterday, and the UK and France were put on negative outlook. The Euro has struggled for bids since the downgrades, but today’s German data pushed the single currency above 1.3200.
