German ZEW Survey - Economic Data Preview

Germany’s ZEW Survey of investor confidence is expected to print at the highest level in nearly 2 years in May, rising to 20 from 13 in the previous month. However, improvements in the metric are unlikely to offer much near-term support to the single currency: the ZEW reflects the forward-looking perspective of the survey respondents, meaning the reading tends to lead the Euro by a significant margin such that the trend in the Expectations component inverts major tops and bottoms in the exchange rate. Specifically, the ZEW began to trend lower in the beginning of 2006 and bottomed out in July of last year; the same end-points mark the beginning of the last major uptrend in EURUSD that saw the pair test record highs above 1.60. If the same dynamic is to continue to hold, traders can expect the European unit to set a bottom as the ZEW tops out, a scenario that seems unlikely for the time being considering how much ground remains to be covered before the economy regains its footing.