Economic sentiment hardly up in EU, euro area; job expectations drop

The employment expectations indicator (EEI) continued its downward trend in both: it was minus 0.4 points to 101.2 in the EU and minus 0.3 points to 101.3 in the euro area.

Consumers’ unemployment expectations, which are not included in the headline indicator, worsened for the second month in a row.

Contrary to the ESI, the EEI continued to score above its long-term average, an official release said.

For the EU, the increase in the ESI reflected improved confidence in services and among consumers, which were curbed by declining confidence in retail trade and construction.

For the largest EU economies, the ESI improved significantly for France (plus 1.5) and the Netherlands (plus 1.1) and more moderately for Germany (plus 0.8) and Italy (plus 0.8), while it deteriorated markedly for Spain (minus 3.2) and Poland (minus 1.5).

Industry confidence was broadly stable in May (minus 0.1). Managers’ production expectations deteriorated significantly, but were almost balanced by improved assessments of the current level of overall order books.

Managers’ assessments of the stocks of finished products remained broadly stable. Regarding the questions not entering the confidence indicator, managers assessed developments in past production to have more than recovered from April’s slump, while export order books improved more moderately.

Consumer confidence also improved slightly (plus 0.5 points), mainly due to their improved outlook on the general economic situation in their respective country and, to a lesser extent, due to their slightly more optimistic intentions to make major purchases.

Retail trade confidence declined by 0.9 points, as a consequence of a considerable deterioration in retailers’ assessment of the past business situation that was partly offset by a moderate increase in their business expectations for the next three months. Retailers’ assessment of the volume of stocks remained broadly stable.

The Commission’s economic uncertainty indicator (EUI) continued to decline. Managers’ uncertainty about their future business situation decreased in all sectors. Consumers’ uncertainty about their future financial situation was unchanged.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)