The sentiment in the German economy in early summer 2026 at a glance.

How are businesses doing, and are they looking towards the future with optimism or pessimism? The DIHK sentiment index visualises the current situation and assessment. With a value of 88.1, it has plunged deep into negative territory again in early summer 2026.

DIHK Sentiment Index

The DIHK Sentiment Index is the geometric mean of the business situation index and the business expectations index.

The business situation index corresponds to 100 plus the proportion of companies reporting a good business situation minus the proportion of companies reporting a poor business situation.

The business expectations index corresponds to 100 plus the proportion of companies with positive business expectations minus the proportion of companies with negative business expectations.

Values above 100 mean that companies predominantly report a good business situation or positive business expectations, and vice versa.

Here you can trace how the DIHK Sentiment Index has developed since 2008:

(only available in German)