Eurozone economic confidence strengthened a 6-month high in January on marked increases in consumer and retail trade confidence, survey data from the European Commission showed Thursday.
The economic confidence index rose to 101.2, the highest since July, from 100.6 in December. It was forecast to rise to 101.6.
The consumer confidence index rose to a 6-month high of -8.5 in January from -10.9 a month ago. The score came in line with flash estimate. The marked rise in consumer confidence was fueled by upward revisions of all the four components of the indicator.
Consumers' assessments of the future general economic situation and future unemployment improved strongly, while the rise in consumers' expectations about their financial situation and future savings was less pronounced.
Similarly, the retail trade confidence index came in at -3.6 versus -5.2 in December. The positive development reflected a marked increase in managers' assessment of the present business situation.
The industrial confidence index rose marginally to -5 in January from -5.2 in December, but stayed below expectations of -4.5.
The improvement was driven by managers' more optimistic views on expected production being counter balanced by marginally worse assessments of the current level of overall order books and of stocks of finished products.
Meanwhile, the services confidence index fell to 4.8 from 5.6 in the prior month. This was due to managers' less optimistic views on demand expectations and past demand.
Likewise, the confidence index for the construction sector weakened to -26.5 from -25.2 in the previous month. The deterioration was due to downward revisions in both managers' employment expectations and their assessment of the level of order books.
Another survey from EU showed that the business climate indicator remained virtually unchanged at +0.16 in January. Managers' production expectations and their views on the level of past production improved, while the assessment of export order books, stocks of finished products, and overall order books declined slightly.
There is the risk that mounting concerns and uncertainty over the Greek situation could have some negative impact on sentiment, IHS Global Insight's Chief European Economist Howard Archer said.
The hope for the Eurozone going forward has to be that sharply lower oil prices, the much more competitive euro and European Central Bank stimulus foster a more supportive growth environment that boosts business confidence and encourages them to lift investment and employment, Archer said.
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