The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany rose from 29.9 a month ago to 51.7 in January 2022 and well above market expectations of 32.0 (source: Centre for European Economic Research or ZEW).

The indicator is calculated from the results of the ZEW Financial Market Survey, which is an aggregation of the sentiments of approximately 350 economists and analysts on the economic future of Germany in the medium term. The indicator represents the difference between the percentage share of analysts that are optimistic and the share of analysts that are pessimistic for the German economy in six months.

January's data shows that investors believe that economic growth in Germany will hasten in the coming six months, particularly in the consumer-related and export-oriented sectors, as COVID-19 cases could significantly fall by early summer.

Another early sign of optimism can be seen in ETF flows. Over EUR 100 million were poured into German Equities ETFs in the first two weeks of 2022. Drawing the biggest net inflows in Europe year-to-date are iShares Core DAX UCITS ETF (EUR 112 million), Xtrackers DAX UCITS ETF (EUR 15.3 million), and Deka DAX UCITS ETF (EUR 3.3 million). All three provide exposure to Germany's flagship index, the DAX 40. 

Are you an ETF Investor? Your opinion matters: Answer the Trackinsight Global ETF Survey 2022.

Find and compare over 8,000 ETFs with our free tools:? 

  • ETF Screener
  • ESG Investing
  • Thematic Investing

Interested in seeing lists of top-performing ETFs? Check out our new Investing Guides:

  • Investing in Gold ETFs
  • Investing in Silver ETFs
  • Investing in Commodity ETFs
  • Investing in Oil ETFs
  • Investing in ESG ETFs