Pessimism strikes back in Germany as the country's most prominent leading indicator just dropped to the lowest level since the summer of 2020. In January, the Ifo index came in at 85.2, down from 86.3 in December. The tentative revival of optimism last autumn has turned out to be very short-lived and the index has now dropped for the second month in a row. Both the current assessment and the expectations component weakened in January. New year and two new problems It sometimes feels as someone in Germany must have smashed a mirror, causing seven years of bad luck. As if the last four years of pandemic, war in ... (full story)