German business confidence drops

Business confidence in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, dropped for a third month in four in August on concern record oil prices and flagging consumer spending will curb the pace of economic growth.

The Ifo institute’s confidence index, based on a survey of 7,000 companies, declined to 95.3 from 95.6 in July. Economists predicted a reading of 95.1, according to the median of 38 forecasts gathered by Bloomberg. The index has retreated from a three-year high of 97.5 in January.

“The pessimism that prevails among the people is also prevalent in the economy,’ Karl-Heinz Streibich, chief executive of Software AG, a German database software maker, said in a telephone interview from his office in Darmstadt. “I wish there were more enthusiasm.”