Trade cease-fire with Trump helps German business optimism

A survey shows that optimism among investment professionals about Germany's economy rose in September amid relief over a trade cease-fire between U.S. President Donald Trump and the European Union.

The ZEW institute said Tuesday that its index rose to minus 10.6 points from minus 13.7 points in August.

Oliver Rakau, chief German economist at Oxford Economics, said that "market participants' economic expectations continued to be bolstered by the preliminary EU-U.S. trade deal that took U.S. car tariffs off the table for now."

Trump has agreed to hold off on new tariffs on imported cars while U.S. and EU officials negotiate.

The ZEW index is based on surveys of investment analysts about their views of Germany's economy, Europe's largest.