Eurozone consumer confidence improvement disappoints in September
Eurozone consumer confidence has improved from -16 to -14.9 in September. That's a smaller improvement that the jump to -14.5 that analysts were anticipating.
Christian Schulz, senior economist, Berenberg:
Consumers set a moderately positive tone ahead of the series of important Eurozone sentiment indicator releases next week. The EU Commission’s consumer confidence indicator rose for tenth successive time to -14.9 in September, approaching the long run average of -12.7. However, the gain was the smallest in four months as high unemployment, debt levels and falling wages in many countries kept a lid on households’ spending power in the Eurozone crisis countries.
The Eurozone has two separate economic recoveries: in the periphery, exports are dragging the economy out of recession, while domestic demand is merely stabilising. In the core, domestic households’ and companies’ spending drives the recovery. The next increases could be stronger again, as confidence may have been held back in Germany by uncertainty about taxes and energy costs after the elections.