Investor morale in the euro zone improved slightly in September, a Sentix survey showed today, but it cautioned that the economic situation in the single currency bloc remained tense.
The Sentix research group said its investor sentiment index for the euro zone edged up to -11.1 in September from -13.7 in August.
That beat a Reuters poll of analysts who had predicted a decline to -14.
Investors' assessment of the current situation deteriorated for the fourth month in a row to reach its lowest level since January 2015 at -9.5.
Their economic outlook improved, however, with the sub-index rising to -12.8 in September from -20 in the previous month.
Sentix pointed to signals from US President Donald Trump that suggested some progress towards finding a solution to the bitter trade dispute between the world's two biggest economy.
"After the bad experiences with U.S. President Trump's tweets, however, hardly anyone is prepared to make an advance payment here," Sentix Managing Director Manfred Huebner said.
"What remains is the ECB, from which investors expect real wonders at the forthcoming meeting," he added.
The European Central Bank is expected to deploy fresh stimulus at its policy meeting on Thursday.
