Eurozone investor confidence slumps to four-year low as German slowdown and Brexit concerns hit the bloc

Eurozone investor confidence has sunk to a four-year low as Brexit uncertainty and Germany’s continued slowdown added to the bloc’s woes.

The Sentix Index, which monitors investor sentiment across the single currency bloc, fell to -3.7 for February, following a survey of more than 1,000 investors.

Read more: Italy slips into recession as Eurozone growth disappoints

Although the latest figures avoided a recession, Sentix said the growth seemed to be “weakening dangerously quickly and strongly.”

The index has now fallen for six consecutive months to its lowest level since November 2014.

“A major reason for this development is likely to lie more and more in the approaching Brexit,” Sentix managing director Manfred Hubner said.

“The economy now has to deal with the contingency plans in view of the unresolved political situation.

“Many companies exposed to UK-EU trade are currently not aiming for growth,” he added.

Germany’s index score fell to 3.1 – the lowest since August 2012 and a fourth consecutive monthly decline – as Brexit and problems in the Chinese sales market further hit the Eurozone powerhouse.

The Germany economy grew at its slowest rate last year since 2013 and its slowdown was compounded by poor retail sales in December.

Last week it emerged that Italy slipped into a recession at the end of last year in another sign of renewed economic troubles weighing on the Eurozone.

Read more: Eurozone industrial production suffers sharpest fall in almost three years

The bloc’s third-largest economy shrank 0.2 per cent in the final three months of 2018, following a drop in GDP of 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

The bloc as a whole remained stuck at 0.2 per cent growth at the end of the year, its lowest level in four years.