German economic confidence improved strongly in April to its highest level in nearly five years, as financial market experts turned optimistic though their assessment of the current situation hit a near 11-year low amid the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment advanced 77.7 points to 28.2 points in April from -49.5 in March, survey data from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed Tuesday.

After logging the sharpest fall on record, the reading reached its highest level since July 2015, and was well above the forecast of -42.3.

Meanwhile, the current conditions index plunged 48.4 points to -91.5 points from -43.1 a month ago. This was the lowest score since May 2009. The expected reading was -77.5.

This constellation of values currently witnessed for expectations and the assessment of the current situation roughly corresponds to that seen in April/May 2009 during the financial crisis, ZEW said.

ZEW President Achim Wambach said the financial market experts are beginning to see a light at the end of the very long tunnel.

The results of the special questions on the coronavirus crisis included in the survey show that the experts do not expect to see positive economic growth until the third quarter of 2020, Wambach added.

Economic output is not expected to return to pre-corona levels before 2022.

The Bundesbank on Monday said the German economy plunged into a severe recession following the containment measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus. Moreover, the bank said an immediate recovery is unlikely.

"How big the decline in overall economic activity will ultimately be is currently difficult to predict," the central bank said.

The bank estimated that the lockdown has impacted several services sectors and this could have led to an over 1 percent decline in the GDP in the first quarter.

The survey suggests that investors are now expecting some recovery from the complete collapse in activity over recent weeks, Jessica Hinds, an economist at Capital Economics, said. But any improvement is likely to be very slow.

In all honesty, this number is too good to be true, Carsten Brzeski, an ING economist, said.

It probably reflects the stock market rally of the last few weeks, central bank and government action as well as a good portion of optimism that up to now all viruses eventually ended with a U- or V-shaped recovery, he added.

Financial market experts' sentiment regarding the economic development of Eurozone also considerably strengthened in April.

The economic confidence index for the currency bloc advanced 74.7 points to 25.2 points in April. By contrast, the indicator for the current economic situation declined 45.4 points to -93.9.

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