German business confidence improves for 4th straight month

BERLIN (AP) — A closely watched survey shows that German business confidence has strengthened for a fourth consecutive month as managers look past current problems to take a more optimistic view of the months ahead. The Ifo institute said Wednesday that its monthly confidence index rose in February from last month. That was due entirely to a clear improvement in companies’ outlook for the next six months, because their assessment of the situation now worsened slightly. Ifo says “the German economy is gradually working its way out of a period of weakness.” Inflation has dogged Germany as it has other countries. Europe’s biggest economy saw its annual inflation rate rebound to 8.7% in January after dropping to 8.1% in December.