The Ifo business confidence index dropped to 106.7 in March from 107.4 in February.
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German business sentiment rose to a seven-month high in January, the Ifo institute said on Friday.
Germany's Ifo business-climate index recovered in November from its sharp fall of the previous month.
European stocks were lower overnight following a weak reading on the German Ifo index of business sentiment.
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But Hans-Werner Sinn, head of the Ifo economic research institute at Munich University, is much more upbeat.
The Ifo index of future expectations rose more strongly, creating hopes of a return to stronger growth.
The Ifo barometer, a measure of business confidence in Germany, rose in July for the third month running.
Companies were feeling slightly happier about current conditions, but gloomier about longer-term prospects, Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn said.
After falling for four consecutive months, the Ifo business-climate survey rose in June.
But business confidence is recovering, according to the Ifo index, which rose in February to a seven-month high of 88.9.
Nastier still was the September reading of the monthly Ifo index of business confidence, published by a Munich research institute.
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The Ifo Institute said its sentiment index of the German business climate fell to 100 in October from 101.4 in September.
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Because of skills shortages before the crash, firms did not want to shed staff, says Kai Carstensen of Ifo, a research institute.
There was also a positive German Ifo report for December released Wednesday.
The monthly Ifo survey of business sentiment increased to 95.8 in January from 95.1 in December, with business expectations rising markedly in German manufacturing.
There was some positive news out of economic powerhouse Germany today when the Ifo Institute released a Business Climate reading that improved to 106.7.
Businesses in Germany "anticipate a clear revival in exports, " said Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
The report on the Ifo business-climate index, which showed a climb to 107.4 this month from 104.3 in January, helped boost US stocks early Friday.
Strong German Ifo survey results Thursday have lifted the Euro currency.
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In Ifo's monthly survey, about 7, 000 companies are asked for their views of the current business climate and their outlook over the coming six months.
Ifo's findings on the glum mood among German firms follows data on Tuesday from ZEW indicating German investor confidence had fallen to a six-month low.
Climbing to an early morning high of 1.2966 after an extremely positive German Ifo Business climate reading of 106.2, the euro has been getting pummeled ever since.
In Germany the Ifo Business Climate Index, compiled by a research institute at the University of Munich, dropped to 111.1 from 111.3, according to a news release Friday.
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Some of the worst hit firms have been in Germany and, according to the Ifo survey of more than 7, 000 executives, the effects are starting to hit morale.
The latest figures of future expectations dropped to 96.4 from a three-year high of 97.5 in January, Ifo said, adding that the data was a "small warning signal".
The annual bill to German taxpayers of the additional borrowing costs could eventually reach 1.9% of German GDP, according to Kai Carstensen of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich.
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Mr Seehofer, for example, has distanced himself from her over the euro in a bid to appeal to his Bavarian base (one leading critical economist, Hans-Werner Sinn, runs the CES-ifo institute in Munich).
The closely watched Ifo index of business confidence hit a two-year low in June, suggesting that Europe's economic engine, Germany, is no longer immune to the troubles in the rest of the euro zone.
So if you pop in a DVD "infected" with Protect DVD-Video, it can't be read by Windows Media Player, Media Center Edition, or any DirectShow-based software, thanks to a Universal Disc Format that tricks your machine into believing that the IFO file is zero bytes long.
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Both developments put a more positive spin on Germany as a business location than it has enjoyed for a while, and offset somewhat the news that during June the business climate index measured by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research fell by an unexpectedly dramatic 1.4 points.
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