DAX Edges Lower As Business Sentiment Falls In August

(RTTNews) - German stocks were a tad lower on Monday as investors digested weak business sentiment data and looked ahead to the release of a slew of regional data due later in the week.

German business morale fell in August as companies were both more pessimistic and assessed their current situation as worse, a survey showed today.

The Ifo institute's business climate index fell to 86.6 in August from 87.0 in July while analysts had expected a reading of 86.0.

Employment, retail sales and GDP data for Europe's largest economy, Eurozone industrial and economic sentiment figures, and EU flash inflation data for August are due later in the week ahead of the ECB's interest-rate decision in September.

The inflation report is crucial for the European Central Bank as it considers its next interest-rate move.

The benchmark DAX was down 34 points, or 0.2 percent, at 18,598 after climbing 0.8 percent on Friday.