Eurozone economic sentiment dips as UK confidence grows
Economic sentiment in the European Union and the eurozone fell this month, while confidence in the UK jumped 1.6 points.
Sentiment in the euro area dropped by 0.7 points to 105.5 and in the EU sentiment fell by 0.4 points to 105, according to the European Commission’s latest business and consumer survey.
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The economic sentiment indicator score in the UK was 100.8 points in March, up from 99.2 points in February, but below January's score of 103.7.
Industry confidence in the eurozone fell 1.3 points due to managers’ more pessimistic views on production expectations, the current level of order books and stocks of finished products while negative views on expected demand drove services confidence down by 0.8 points.
Meanwhile, consumer confidence was up 0.2 points as households lifted their expectations about the general economic situation, and retail trade confidence jumped 1.5 points.
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Increasing construction confidence, which rose by 0.9 points, was driven by optimistic views on the levels of order books.
Financial services confidence, which is not included in the economic sentiment indicator, soared by 9.2 points, indicating that managers were more positive about past and future demand.