German Business Climate Brightens Despite Weakness in Trade

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By Trey Thoelcke Published

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The business climate in Germany reversed a bit last month after several months of decline. The news comes as a surprise as the balance of the continent slips into recession. According to Ifo:

The Ifo Business Climate Index for German industry and trade rose again. While companies as-sessed their current business situation as somewhat less favourable than last month, they were considerably less pessimistic about future business developments. As the year draws to a close, German companies are more confident about the future.

In manufacturing the business climate continued to brighten. Companies assessed their current business situation slightly less favourably than last month, but they are far more optimistic about the future than previously. Business expectations showed their sharpest increase since August 2009. Export expectations also continued to improve.

The business climate indicator weakened at both levels of trade. In both wholesaling and retailing survey participants were less satisfied with their current business situation and somewhat more sceptical about future developments.

In construction the business climate index continued to rise in December. While companies were more cautious in their assessments of the current business situation, they were far more optimistic about the next six months.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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