Economic sentiment in the European union and euro zone eased fell in November, in line with consensus estimates, as rising Covid cases hit consumer optimism, official data revealed on Monday.
The EU’s Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) eased by 1.1 points in both the EU and the euro area to 116.5 and 117.5 respectively.
In the EU, the ESI’s decrease in November was driven by a marked decline in consumer confidence, while optimism was broadly unchanged in industry and services and improved in retail trade and construction, the European Commission said.
Amongst the largest EU economies, the ESI rose in France (+3.0), Italy (+0.9) and Poland (+0.5). By contrast, confidence worsened in Spain (-2.6), the Netherlands (-2.1) and Germany (-1.7).
The sharp fall in consumer confidence reflected a gloomier outlooks by households’ assessments of their past and future financial conditions, intentions to make major purchases and expectations about the general economic situation.
Services confidence remained broadly stable, resulting from managers’ more positive views on both past and expected demand, while their assessment of the past business situation deteriorated compared to October, The commission added.
However, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomic said they doubted the strength in services will last long “given its relative vulnerability to virus restrictions”.
Survey data were collected between November 1 – 24, meaning that while the new restrictions in Germany were captured, surveying missed the announcement of the new super green pass in Italy and the new Omicron variant, they added.
