Market reaction to economic data is always interesting to watch, but as ever sometimes it is worth delving a little bit deeper into the numbers. Today’s German ZEW is a case in point. Seen as a strong figure by the market Eur/ Usd rallied smartly and Bunds sold off. This survey has come into fashion in the last few years after being ignored by most market participants. It is a survey of Economic Analysts rather than anyone on the ground in German business, which is why you get strange figures like today, with current conditions hitting an all time low, while conversely expectations were at their highest level since June 2007. Are business expectations really at their highest level in almost 2 years ? I think not. In times like this I take more heed of what people are actually seeing rather than what may happen in the future. A case in point being comments from the German Steel Federation saying that New Orders in Jan/Feb were down more than 50% y/y.