Sentiment broadly unchanged in euro area, says European Commission report
The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) in the EU fell in May, while it stayed broadly unchanged in euro area, according to a European Commission report released on Monday.
The ESI in the euro area was 105 in May from a downwardly revised 104.9 in April, while it decreased 0.5 points to 104.1 in the EU.
The slight decrease in the EU was due to weaker confidence among industry managers and, to a lesser degree, consumers, the report said.
“Industry confidence weakened for the third month running (-1.4), as managers’ assessments of the current level of overall order books saw the sharpest deterioration in two years,” it added.
Services, retail trade and construction confidence remained virtually unchanged.
Amongst the largest EU economies, the ESI increased markedly in Spain (4.1) and,to a lesser extent, in France (1.5) and Italy (0.8), while it remained virtually unchanged in Germany (0.2).
Sentiment was down in the Netherlands (1.2) and Poland (0.8).
The European Commission’s Economic Uncertainty Indicator (EUI) diminished for the second month in a row, down 2.7 points to 22.6.
Uncertainty went down among consumers and in all surveyed business sectors, with the exception of retail trade, where it stayed broadly unchanged, the report said.