Economic sentiment weakened across both the European Union and euro area in September, new data from the European Commission has revealed.
The European Commission’s Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell to 97.9 in both the EU and euro area as consumer confidence declined and employment expectations moved further below their long-term average.
The ESI fell by 0.4 points in the EU and 0.5 points in the euro area compared with the previous month.
‘Lower confidence’
‘The decline in the ESI resulted from lower confidence reported by consumers, despite higher confidence in industry and, to a smaller degree, construction,’ the European Commission said in a statement. ‘Confidence in services and retail trade remained broadly stable.
‘Among the largest EU economies, the ESI fell noticeably in France (-1.7) and moderately in Italy (-0.8). Conversely, the ESI rose significantly in Spain (+3.4) and only slightly in Germany (+0.6) and the Netherlands (+0.5).’
Employment expectations
The employment expectations indicator (EEI) declined by 0.6 points in the EU to 98.3 and by 1.3 points in the euro area to 97.5.
‘The moderate drop resulted from lower employment plans among managers in retail trade (-2.0) and, less so, in services (-0.4), being only slightly offset by stronger employment plans reported by managers in construction (+2.1) and industry (+1.0)’, the Commission noted.
The Commission also reported a decline in consumer confidence, with the flash consumer confidence indicator falling by 0.8 percentage points in the EU and by 1.0 percentage point in the euro area. The consumer confidence indicator stood at -15.8 for the EU and -16.5 for the euro area. Read more here.
