Ifo Business Survey for November 2005

The business climate in German industry and trade fell slightly in November. The enterprises judged both their current business situation as well as their six-month outlook a little more unfavourably than in October. This, however, is not to be seen as a reversal of the upward trend but as a reaction to the strong rise in the two preceding months, a common phenomenon observed in past surveys. At a balance of -5.4 percentage points, the index was still clearly higher than the September value; the basic tendency of the indicator is thus upwards and supports the forecast of a continuation of the moderate economic upswing.