German business confidence slips again amid COVID fears

BERLIN (AP) — A closely watched survey shows business confidence in Germany has dropped for the sixth month in a row amid concern over the latest wave of coronavirus infections. The Ifo institute said Friday that its monthly confidence index for Europe’s biggest economy dropped to 94.7 points in December from 96.6 last month. The assessment of managers of both the current situation and the outlook for the next sixth months worsened. Ifo said “the deteriorating pandemic situation is hitting consumer-related service providers and retailers hard.” However, the institute says confidence in the manufacturing sector rose for the first time after five months of declines as fuller order books led to a more optimistic outlook.