Two days after the stronger business survey, Germany's consumer climate indicator for October fell to -30.6, from a revised -26.8. The Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions pointed especially to weaker income expectations and a greater willingness to save. The figures measure different things: a firm can have a healthy order book while a household worries about its next energy bill. One survey does not cancel out the other. Together they show how uneven a recovery can feel.
What it means: Is -30.6 a forecast that household spending will fall 30.6%? No. It is an index reading that summarizes survey responses, not a percentage change in spending.