Eurozone Economic Confidence Weakest Since Late 2020

(RTTNews) - Euro area economic sentiment reached its lowest level since late 2020 due to weaker confidence among consumers, services, retail trade and construction managers, monthly survey data from European Commission showed on Wednesday.

The economic sentiment index declined more-than-expected to 93.3 from 94.5 a month ago. This was the lowest since November 2020, when the score was 92.3. The expected reading was 93.7.

The industrial confidence fell to -10.3 in August from -9.3 in the previous month. The score was the weakest since August 2020.

While managers' views on the current level of order books continued to weaken and their assessments of the stocks of finished products stayed virtually unchanged, managers' production expectations improved.

With views on past demand and the past business situation more downbeat, the services confidence index posted 3.9, down from 5.4 in July.

As survey respondents turned more pessimistic about their household's future financial situation and the expected general economic situation, the final consumer confidence index declined to -16.0 in August from -15.1 a month ago. Due to deteriorating assessments of the past business situation and the volume of stocks being more often considered as too large or above normal, confidence among retailers weakened in August after improving a month ago. The index fell to -5.0 from -4.5 in July.

Construction confidence continued its downward trend reflecting a deterioration of both assessments of the level of order books and employment expectations. The index slid to -5.2 from -3.6 in the previous month.

At 102.1 the employment expectations indicator declined to the lowest since April 2021, fueled by less optimistic employment plans among services, construction and, particularly, retail trade managers, the survey showed.