German business sentiment likely deteriorated again this month under the burden of record euro strength and high oil prices, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. A fall in July would follow on from a deterioration in morale in June to its lowest level since December 2005 and signal a sharp slowdown in Europe's largest economy after a strong start to the year.
The mid-range forecast of 55 economists polled this week was for the Ifo economic institute's business climate index to fall to 100.0 in July from 101.3 in June. The Ifo index is based on a monthly poll of around 7,000 firms. "The situation is deteriorating fairly quickly and faster than many people had reckoned," said Andreas Speer, economist at BayernLB.