Eurozone Economic Confidence At 17-Month Low

Eurozone economic confidence reached its lowest level in nearly one-and-a-half years in July, survey results from the European Commission showed on Thursday.

The economic confidence index slid more-than-expected to 99.0 in July from 103.5 in the previous month. The reading was forecast to ease to 102.0.

This was the lowest score since February 2021. The decline in July reflects substantial losses in industry, services and consumer confidence.

The industrial sentiment index declined to 3.5 from 7.0 a month ago. The expected reading was 6.0. There were significant deteriorations in managers’ assessment of the current level of overall order books and their production expectations.

At -27.0, consumer confidence matched the flash estimate and came in below June’s -23.8.

At the same time, the services sentiment index declined to 10.7 in July from 14.1 in the previous month and remained below economists’ forecast of 13.5.

Confidence in the construction sector fell only moderately to 3.0 from 3.4 in June. Retailers’ sentiment dropped to -6.8 from -5.2 a month ago.

The downturn of the Employment Expectations Indicator was driven by significantly worsened employment plans in retail trade, services and, to a somewhat lesser extent, industry. The corresponding index dropped to 107.0 from 110.2.

Selling price expectations decelerated in all four business sectors, particularly in industry and construction, the survey showed.

The economic confidence in the EU27 plunged to 97.6 in July from 101.8 in the prior month. This was the lowest since February 2021.

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