German business morale deteriorated for the fourth month running in October as supply bottlenecks in manufacturing, a spike in energy prices and rising COVID-19 infections are slowing the pace of recovery in Europe's largest economy from the pandemic. The Ifo institute said on Monday that its business climate index fell to 97.7 from an upwardly revised 98.9 in September. This was the lowest reading since April and undershot the 97.9 consensus forecast in a Reuters poll. The weaker-than-expected business sentiment survey was followed by a grim outlook from Germany's central bank, which said in its monthly report that economic growth was likely to slow sharply in the fourth quarter.