German economic sentiment picked up in November after declining for seven consecutive months, a sign that Europe’s largest economy will gain momentum in the coming months, the ZEW think tank said on Tuesday, NewsNow reported. Its indicator of economic expectations rose to 10.4 from 1.9 in October, but remained below its long-term average of 24.8. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a smaller increase to 6.0. “The outlook for the German economy is brightening towards the end of the year,” said ZEW president Clemens Fuest. “Economic pessimism appears not to have increased after the terror attacks in Paris,” he said. The ZEW received about 18% of the responses after the deadly terrorist attacks on Friday night. Fuest said that “the currently high level of consumption in Germany, the recent decline in the external value of the euro and the ongoing recovery in the United States are likely to bolster the robust development of the German economy.” Sentiment in the automobile sector strongly recovered too, said ZEW analyst Dominik Rehse.
