Eurozone Economic Sentiment rose to 105.1 in May, up from 103.9 and beat expectation of 103.9. The improvement of euro-area sentiment resulted from higher confidence in industry and, to a lesser extent, in services and among consumers, while confidence remained virtually flat in retail trade and cooled down significantly in construction.
Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI increased sharply in France (+4.0), markedly also in Italy (+1.7) and Spain (+1.3) and mildly in Germany (+0.4). Sentiment eased only in the Netherlands (-1.3).
Industrial Confidence rose to -2.9, up from -4.3 and beat expectation of -4.2. Services Confidence rose to 12.2, up from 11.8 and beat expectation of 11.0. Consumer Confidence was finalized at -6.5.
For EU28, ESI was muted, up 0.2 to 103.8 only. That was mostly due to a strong deterioration in the largest non-euro area EU economy, the UK (-4.8).
Also released, Business Climate dropped -0.12 to 0.30, below expectation of 0.40. Managers’ views on the past production, as well as export order books deteriorated sharply, as did, to a lesser extent, their assessments of overall order books, while the production expectations and appraisals of the stocks of finished products improved.
