German Consumer Sentiment Set to Decline in October

Consumer confidence in Germany is poised to dip in October after a five-month winning streak, but will remain high, underpinning views that domestic consumption remains a key pillar of growth in Europe's largest economy, GfK's monthly survey showed Thursday.

The market research group's forward-looking sentiment index is set to fall to 10.8 points in October from 10.9 points in September, the research group said. Economists in The Wall Street Journal's survey expected an 11.0 reading.

"Consumer sentiment remains, nevertheless, in a good shape," GfK said.

It confirmed a forecast it made at the beginning of the year predicting that private consumption in 2017 would increase by 1.5% in real terms.

Consumers continue to benefit from the strength of the labor market, which gives them more security when planning large purchases or expenditures that could require a loan, GfK said.

GfK uses three sub-indexes for the current month to derive a sentiment figure for the coming month.

The economic expectations sub-index increased to 33.4 points in September from 30.4 points in August, partly offsetting a steeper decline the previous month.

Consumers' income expectations, meanwhile, dropped to 52.7 points in September from 61.4 points in August, consolidating somewhat after growing for five months in a row.

Consumers' propensity to buy--which shows their willingness to spend on big-ticket items--declined to 57.0 points in September from 58.1 points in August, GfK said.

Write to Emese Bartha at emese.bartha@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2017 02:14 ET (06:14 GMT)