Eurozone Economic Confidence Strengthens In March

Eurozone economic sentiment rose to a three-month high in March driven by the improvement across all sectors except construction, survey data from the European Commission revealed on Wednesday.

The economic sentiment index climbed to 96.3 in March, as expected, from 95.5 in the previous month.

The industrial confidence index rose to -8.8 from -9.4 in February. Managers’ production expectations weakened and fewer managers assessed the stocks of finished products as too large or above normal.

The services confidence index improved to 6.3 from 6.0 a month ago as managers’ demand expectations picked up.

Confidence among consumers continued to recover, thanks to brightening views regarding their household’s past and expected financial situation and their slightly less pessimistic expectations about the general economic situation.

The consumer sentiment index posted -14.9 in March, up from -15.5 in February. The reading matched the flash estimate and also hit the highest since February 2022.

Driven by brighter assessments of the past business situation and improved views on the adequacy of the volume of stocks, the index measuring confidence among retailers improved to -5.7 from -6.6.

The construction sentiment index fell slightly to -5.6 from -5.5. The survey showed that builders’ employment expectations brightened only marginally and their assessments of the level of order books remained broadly unchanged.

The Employment Expectations Indicator remained virtually unchanged at 102.6 in March and remained above its long-term average.

The survey suggested that selling price expectations fell sharply in retail trade, construction, and services, while prices increased slightly in industry.