GERMANS UPBEAT ON BUSINESS
German business confidence has brightened unexpectedly this month,offering hope that a slowdown in the eurozone's "core" economies would prove modest despite the threat of Greece's debt crisis.
The Munich-based Ifo Institute reported its business climate index had risen for the first time since February. German businesses' assessment of conditions improved sharply to hit the highest level since the survey started in 1991. Optimism for the next six months fell to the lowest for more than a year,however.
The result suggested German companies had shrugged off worries about the debt crises in the eurozone "periphery" economies higher oil prices and fiscal austerity. "The Germany economy finds itself in a robust upswing," said HansWerner Sinn, Ifo president.
Germany's economy,Europe's largest, started this year with a growth spurt and the Ifo index at a record. Gross domestic product expanded by 1.5 percent in the first quarter on the previous three months.
Since February, however,the index,a good indicator of future activity, appeared to be turning - although remaining at a high level.
German purchasing managers' indices this week suggested growth in the country's powerful industrial sector had weakened markedly in June
But analysts said the fact that the Ifo index, rising from 114.2 in May to 114.5 in June,was still near record highs suggested that the deceleration would be mild