German investor expectations fell for a third month in March amid fears about the pace of Europe's economic recovery and negativity following the Madrid bombings, the ZEW institute said today.
Investors also notched down their assessment of current business conditions, said the ZEW, adding that the results indicated the Madrid attacks last Thursday had played a slight role.
"Experts still expect the economic recovery to continue but doubt whether the pace of the recovery can be maintained," ZEW said
It said its monthly gauge of German economic expectations in March fell to 57.6, the lowest level since August 2003, from 69.9 in February. That was well below analysts' expectations for a drop to 66.0.
Its measure of current conditions also eased slightly to -72.7 from -70.2 in February.
Taking into account the Madrid bomb attacks that killed 200 and injured around 1,500, ZEW divided its 313 responses into those that came before and after the blasts.
It said on the basis of the responses received before the attacks, the expectations indicator would have fallen in any case to 59.1. Responses received after the attacks would have pointed to a drop to 55.9.
ZEW said the results indicated the attacks may have had only a marginal additional impact on already gloomier sentiment.
ZEW said its economic expectations indicator for the euro zone also fell to 64.3 from 75.6 in February.