Germany’s Ifo-Barometer is pointing south bigtime. After asking 1035 experts about the world’s economic climate (not that other one), they dropped its rating (a credit rating, so-to-speak) from 67 to 45 index points, the lowest its been in, well, quite a long time.

At the same time, however, German investor confidence has just jumped to its highest level since 2007, this according to a place called the Zew Institute. “By the middle of 2009, the economy is likely to improve again. A sign of hope – no more, no less,” one analyst said.

High, low, more, less, Hauptsache (the main thing) is that everybody stays on the same sheet of music, right?

“Still, the gathering clouds have a silver lining.”