War, inflation drag German consumer sentiment lowest since Feb 2021

German consumer morale looks set to slump heading into April as the Ukraine war pushed households' economic and income expectations to new record lows since the 2009 financial crisis, a survey showed

German consumer morale looks set to slump heading into April as the war in Ukraine pushed households' economic and income expectations to new record lows since the 2009 financial crisis, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The GfK institute said its consumer sentiment index, based on a survey of around 2,000 Germans, tumbled to -15.5 points heading into April from a revised -8.5 points a month earlier, the lowest since February 2021.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the index to drop to -14.0.

"In February, hopes were still high that consumer sentiment would recover with the easing of pandemic-related restrictions.

However, the