The German ZEW headline number showed that the Economic Sentiment Index improved further, arriving at 28.1 in February from 16.9 in January, beating the market expectation of 22.0.
Meanwhile, the Current Situation Index came in at -45.1 from -58.6 but outpaced the market expectation of -50.0
During the same period, the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index for the Eurozone jumped to 29.7 from 16.7.
A large fraction of the survey participants expects the economic situation to improve in six months’ time.
Current situation is still assessed as relatively unfavourable.
As in the previous month, the increase in expectations can be traced back to higher profit expectations in the energy- and export-oriented sectors as well as the consumer-related parts of the economy.
Expectations for longterm interest rates are also rising and the banking sector indicator has reached its highest level since 2004.
The EUR/USD pair is uninspired by the upbeat data, keeping its range near 1.0660, down 0.22% on the day.