Eurozone Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) dropped to 105.5 in March, down from 106.2 and missed expectation of 105.9. EU28 ESI dropped -0.4 to 105.0. The deterioration of Eurozone ESI was resulted from “markedly lower confidence in industry”. Industrial Confidence dropped to -1.7, down from -0.4 and missed expectation of -0.5. Services Confidence dropped to 11.3, down from 12.1 and missed expectation of 12.0. Consumer Confidence was finalized at -7.2, up from -7.4.
Amongst the largest Eurozone economies, ESI rose markedly in Spain (+2.3), while it decreased sharply in Germany (−1.8) and the Netherlands (−1.3), and remained broadly unchanged in France (+0.2) and Italy (−0.2).
Also released, Eurozone Business Climate Indicator dropped to 0.53, down from 0.69 and missed expectation of 0.69. All the five components of the indicator worsened: while managers’ views of the past production, their production expectations, and their assessments of both overall and export order books declined significantly, their appraisal of the stocks of finished products worsened only slightly.
