German investor sentiment rises

BERLIN) — A closely-watched survey shows German investor sentiment grew in December, ending a nine-month downward trend.

However, the rise was not as big as expected as Europe’s raging debt crisis weighs heavily on the continent’s largest economy.

The ZEW investor sentiment index for December released Tuesday was up 1.4 points to minus 53.8 points overall. Analysts had forecast a bigger rise to minus 52.

ZEW says the negative reading indicates that investors expect the economic situation in Germany to weaken over the next six months, but that sentiment has now bottomed out. It adds that economic activity is not expected to plunge and that sentiment may have been helped by the decisions from an EU summit Dec. 9 meant to bolster the 17-nation eurozone.