German ZEW data projects more woes in Europe

FRANKFORT (July 12)  The situation in Europe's largest economy seems to be getting worse. The latest German ZEW reading for both the current situation and expectations for July has hit a significant low. The survey spoke about the possibility of Russia cutting gas supplies to its largest customer (Germany) as a means of exerting political pressure. It's the first time that Russia has overtly used energy as a weapon against Germany since it started shipping gas to the country back in the 1980s and has upended decades of German thinking about energy security and energy policy.

Mr. Wambach the ZEW President said “The current major concerns about the energy supply in Germany, the ECB’s announced interest rate hike, and further pandemic-related restrictions in China have led to a considerable deterioration in the economic outlook"

He also added the experts also assess the current economic situation significantly more negatively than in the previous month and have further lowered their already unfavorable forecast for the next six months.

German ZEW Survey Expectations Jul: -53.8 (est -40.5; Prev -28.0)
German ZEW Survey Current Situation Jul: -45.8 (est -34.5; prev -27.6)
Eurozone ZEW Survey Expectations Jul: -51.1 (prev -28.0)

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