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The results for the May 2008 German IFO Business Climate Survey was released yesterday.

It is a hotly anticipated data to come out of Europe every month and of course part of the reason is the size of the German economy. It is considered a leading indicator and gives a clue how Europe is likely to perform in coming weeks.

At the head of every month, more than 7000 German business leaders and senior executives from the manufacturing, retail, wholesale and construction sector are asked to evaluate Germany’s current business climate as well as expectations for the next 2 quarters.

There might be some correlation between the IFO Business Climate Survey and the Institute for Supply Management report.

Here’s an excerpt for the results published yesterday 21 May 2008:

Results of the May 2008 Ifo Business Survey
Improved Ifo Business Climate

The Ifo Business Climate Index for industry and trade in Germany has risen in May after having clearly weakened in the previous month. However, the business climate index only partially recovered its losses from April. The surveyed companies now assess their current situation more positively. With regard to the outlook for the coming six months, they are also somewhat more confident. On the whole, the dampening of economic activity in Germany in the months following the very good first quarter should be moderate.

The IFO survey is published by IFO Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung (IFO Institute for Economic Research).