German consumer sentiment to stagnate in March - GfK
German consumer confidence looked set to be stagnant in March as investors mull the potential impact of the coronavirus, according to a survey released by market research group GfK on Thursday.
GfK’s forward-looking consumer sentiment index nudged down to 9.8 from 9.9 in February, in line with analyst expectations.
Rolf Bürkl, consumer expert at GfK, said: "The consumer climate has been unable to continue the previous month's positive trend. The spread of the coronavirus has undoubtedly contributed to uncertainty among consumers.
"A decline or halt in production in companies in China triggered by the virus could affect production in Germany as well, or even cause it to come to a complete standstill. This could result in reduced working hours and possibly reductions in staff. And this would not be of benefit to consumer confidence."
However, Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said he saw "few signs" of the coronavirus in the data.
"The dip was in line with the consensus and the small rebound in the headline index since November seems intact. That said, we suspect that the virus will weigh on next month’s headline, though it is anybody’s guess as to how much.
"Overall, the GfK index continues to signal downside risks for growth in consumers spending, though we need to see the final Q4 GDP data to get the full picture. This is to say, we know that consumption slowed, after a strong performance in Q3, but we don’t know by how much."