Eurozone economic confidence deteriorated at the fastest pace on record in April amid the coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic, survey results from the European Commission showed Wednesday. The economic confidence index fell to 67.0 in April from 94.2 in March. This was the strongest monthly decline since 1985, and the reading reached near the lowest levels seen during the Great Recession in March 2009. Among sectors, the crash was particularly marked in services and retail trade.
The industrial sentiment index plunged to -30.4 from -11.2 a month ago. The steepest monthly fall on record resulted first and foremost from managers' crashing production expectations, the survey showed. The services confidence index slid to a record -35.0 from -2.3 largely due to record-breaking deterioration in expected demand and in the assessment of the past business situation and past demand.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.