Eurozone Economic Sentiment Indicator dropped to 94.5 in March, down from 103.4. Industrial Confidence dropped form -6.2 to -10.8. Services Confidence dropped from 11.1 to -2.2. Consumer Confidence dropped from -6.6 to -11.6. Retail Trade Confidence dropped from -0.2 to -8.3. Even Construction Confidence dropped from 5.4. to 2.7.
The strongest monthly decline in the ESI on record (since 1985) resulted from “slumping confidence among consumers and in all the business sectors”. The collapse was “particularly strong in services and retail trade”. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI plummeted in Italy (-17.6) and Germany (-9.8), and fell significantly also in France (-4.9), the Netherlands (-4.0), and Spain (-3.4). Importantly, in many countries the vast majority of survey responses were collected before strict containment measures were enacted to combat the spread of the Corona virus.
