Euro area consumers were less pessimistic in April and the consumer sentiment index rose faster than expected to its highest level in over a year, preliminary data from the European Commission showed Thursday. The flash consumer confidence index rose to -17.5 from -19.1 in March. Economists had forecast a score of -18.5. The latest reading was the strongest since February last year, when it was -9.5. The consumer confidence index for the EU gained 1.7 percentage points to reach -18.9 in April, which was the best reading in 14 months.
However, both readings remained well below their long-term average, the commission said.
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Business News
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.