Eurozone economic confidence (ESI) dropped “markedly” by 2.2 to 107.3 in December, below expectation of 108.9. Eurostats noted that “the deterioration of euro-area sentiment resulted from lower confidence in industry, services, construction and among consumers, while confidence improved slightly in retail trade.” Also, the ESI weakened in all five largest economies, including Spain (−3.0), France (−2.0), Germany (−1.9) and Italy (−1.4) and, marginally so, in the Netherlands (−0.3).
Industrial confidence dropped to 1.1, down from 3.4 and missed expectation of 3.1. Services confidence dropped to 12.0, down from 13.4, and missed expectation of 12.3. Consumer confidence was finalized at -6.2.
Also, Eurozone business climate dropped to 0.82, down from1.09 and missed expectation of 0.99.
