020 7898 0500Yesterday, the Social Democratic party’s leader, Martin Schulz, gave a speech in which he endorsed an Angela Merkel-led grand coalition. His speech was met with sarcastic applause and there were standing ovations for his critics. Ultimately though, it does improve the chances of Merkel securing a fourth term as Chancellor. This could happen as soon as March.
The euro strengthened against the dollar and weakened a little against the pound (although the losses were marginal). Today we have the release of the German ZEW economic sentiment index for January. It is seen as a leading indicator of the German economic performance for the next six months. The last reading was 17.4 and it is expected to increase to 19.
We will also see the consumer confidence flash reading for the eurozone in January.
