German business morale deteriorated unexpectedly in January as the outlook darkened, a survey showed on Monday, suggesting that Europe’s largest economy got off to a slow start in 2020 after narrowly avoiding a recession in the previous year. The Ifo institute said its business climate index fell to 95.9 after 96.3 in December. The January reading confounded a Reuters consensus forecast for a rise to 97.0. “The German economy is starting the year in a cautious mood”, Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement. (full story)