Economic sentiment in Europe softened in February, with the Economic Sentiment Indicator falling by 1.0 point to 98.3 in both the EU and the Eurozone. The Employment Expectations Indicator also declined, slipping to 98.5 in the EU and 97.6 in the Eurozone. Both gauges remain slightly below their long-term average of 100.
The drop in the ESI was driven primarily by a marked deterioration in services confidence, while construction also contributed modestly to the decline. In contrast, sentiment in industry and among consumers was broadly stable, and retail trade confidence continued to improve, suggesting that weakness is not yet broad-based.
Among the largest EU economies, France (-2.8) recorded the sharpest fall in sentiment, followed by Poland (-1.9) and Italy (-0.6). Germany and the Netherlands (-0.2 each) saw only marginal declines, while Spain was broadly unchanged.
