More businesses in Germany were concerned about their survival amid the prospect of a recession, and the group continued to be led by retailers, who this time were worried about the Christmas holiday season, survey data from the ifo institute showed Friday. In November, 7.9 percent of German companies felt their economic survival was threatened, up from 7.5 percent in October, the ifo said. Earlier this week, the Mannheim-based think tank had forecast a shallow recession for Germany in the first half of next year, but said the biggest euro area economy would recover by the spring and rebound strongly with incomes rising faster than prices.
Helped by government's electricity and gas price brakes, inflation is expected to fall in the coming months. The European Central Bank on Thursday hiked interest rates again, but at a slower pace. Policymakers expect that rates need to rise significantly at a steady pace in the coming year as Eurozone inflation is forecast to stay uncomfortably high for a long time.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.