The seismograph is a kind of weather forecast for the stock market. Using a complex mathematical model that includes both economic variables and direct market indicators, the model estimates the probability of three market conditions in the coming month. Green" means that a calm market with a positive trend is expected. "Yellow" indicates a turbulent market with positive expectations - investing is okay, but hedging is indicated. And "red" indicates a turbulent market with negative expectation. The advice is then: Do not invest.

Dear Readers, In April, the ifo business climate index plunged to its lowest level ever measured. The fact that the current mood among German companies is catastrophic is not surprising given the global shutdowns. More critically, expectations for the coming six months have also continued to fall massively. In plain language, this means that even though the current situation is already extremely bleak, companies do not see any improvement even on a six-month horizon, but expect it to deteriorate further.

Dear Readers, despite the recent significant recovery in share prices, the signals from the capital market seismograph remain negative. As you know, the seismograph distinguishes between three phases: "green" (calm market = buy), "yellow" (turbulent market with positive expectation = invest, but with hedging) and "red" (turbulent market with negative expectation = do not invest). "The probability of negative turbulence has recently risen dynamically and has now reached levels last seen during the financial market crisis . The probability of calm markets is virtually zero. In this constellation, it is too risky to reinvest. From the seismograph's point of view, there is therefore currently no reason to move away from the very defensive...

The Munich ifo Institute has now added to this. The coronavirus will cause hundreds of billions of euros in production losses for Germany's economy, cause short-time work and unemployment to skyrocket, and put a considerable strain on the national budget. "The costs will probably exceed everything known from economic crises or natural disasters in Germany in recent decades," said Ifo President Clemens Fuest. "Depending on the scenario, the economy will shrink by 7.2 to 20.6 percentage points. This corresponds to costs of 255 to 729 billion euros."

After economists have only revised their growth forecasts downwards in small steps in recent weeks, the Munich-based ifo Institute has now driven a stake that roughly shows what is in store for the German economy in the coming weeks (https://www.ifo.de/node/53925). The ifo Institute is currently presenting two alternative forecasts. A "very, very favourable" scenario with minor production restrictions would result in a 1.5 percent decline in real national product. However, this does not take into account production shutdowns, which have already occurred. Larger production cuts, on the other hand, would already lead to a 6 percent contraction in 2020. This decline would then be one percentage point worse than in the financial crisis of 2...