Eurozone Economic Sentiment Indicator dropped -1.4 pts to 101.7 in September. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI decreased significantly in the Netherlands, Spain (both -3.1) and Germany (-1.2) and, to a lesser extent, Italy (-0.8). The ESI remained broadly unchanged in France (-0.2).
The decreased resulted from a substantial deterioration of confidence in industry, and a slight decline in retail trade, while confidence improved among consumers and remained broadly stable in services and construction. Industry Confidence dropped from -5.8 to -8.8, “markedly more pessimistic views on all three components, i.e. production expectations, the current level of overall order books and the stocks of finished products”. Services Confidence rose from 9.2 to 9.5. Consumer Confidence rose 0.6 to -6.5.
Business Climate Indicator dropped -0.34 to -0.22. All the components of the BCI worsened. The decline was particularly sharp in managers’ assessments of past production, export order books and overall order books. Albeit to a lesser extent, also their production expectations, as well as their views on stocks of finished products worsened markedly..
