Eurozone Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) jumped to 101 in March, up from 93.4, above expectation of 96. It’s now slightly above its long-term average since the pandemic began. Employment Expectations Indicator jumped 6.8 pts to 97.7. Looking at some more details, industrial confidence rose form -3.1 to 2.0, turned positive. Services confidence rose form -17.0 to -9.3. Consumer confidence rose from -14.8 to -10.8. Retail trade confidence rose from -1.1 to -12.2. Construction confidence rose from -7.5 to -2.7.
EU ESI rose 6.9 pts to 100.0, back at long-term average. Amongst the largest EU economies, Germany stood out with the largest monthly improvement of its ESI on record (+7.9) and is currently the only of the ‘big-6’ countries where sentiment returned to above its long-term average. The monthly increases in sentiment in the other big countries were nevertheless very significant, too: Spain (+6.2), France (+5.4), Italy (+4.9), the Netherlands (+4.4), Poland (+3.3).
