2020.02.1809:30:00UTC+00German Investor Confidence Falls Sharply On Coronavirus Concerns: ZEW

Germany's economic sentiment logged a steep fall in February as investors increasingly grew concerned about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China, results of a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

The investor confidence indicator slumped to 8.7 from 26.7 in January, survey results from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research revealed. The latest score was the weakest since November, when it was -2.1.

The February reading was much worse than the 21.5 economists had expected.

The current conditions index of the survey fell to -15.7 from -9.5 in January. Economists had forecast a score of -10.3.

"Both the downward revision of the assessment of the economic situation and the downturn in expectations show clearly that economic development is rather fragile at the moment," ZEW President Achim Wambach said.

The investor confidence index for Eurozone dropped sharply to 10.4 from 25.6 in January. Economists had forecast a reading of 30 for the month.