Germany: Consumer sentiment expected to stagnate in August
The GfK consumer climate index is expected to stabilize at July’s minus 0.3 in August, as more infectious Covid-19 strains spread and vaccine uptake slowed down notably despite sufficient availability.
The headline reading was underpinned by backward-looking data for July, which is released at the same time and showed a diverging trend. Economic expectations inched down in the month from the ten-year high in June; consumers continue to view the economy as being on the upswing. Income expectations also cooled on the back of greater price pressures amid higher energy prices and the introduction of CO2 pricing, eating into consumers’ pockets. On the contrary, propensity to buy ticked up in July, likely influenced by excess saving.