Germany: IFO Business Climate Index drops to 84.3 in September vs. 87.1 expected

• German IFO sentiment indexes fell at a stronger pace than expected in September.
• EUR/USD trades below 0.9700 in the early European session.

The headline German IFO Business Climate Index fell to 84.3 in September from 88.5 in August, falling short of the market expectation of 87.1.

The Current Assessment Index dropped to 94.5 from 97.5 and the Expectations Index declined to 75.2 from 80.3. Both of these readings came in below analysts' estimates.

"A big minus on all fronts, almost all sectors of the economy are in the minus, the German economy is facing a recession." IFO economist told Reuters assessing the survey and noted that retail business expectations are at historic lows.

"Price expectations rose again, more than every second company looks to increase prices," the economist added. "Energy-intensive industries are particularly pessimistic about the winter".

Market reaction

The disappointing sentiment data don't seem to be having a significant impact on the shared currency's valuation. As of writing, EUR/USD was down 0.1% on the day at 0.9680.