According to the final report from the European Commission, consumer confidence in the eurozone declined moderately in January, retreating from the highest level since February 2022, reached in December.
The consumer confidence index fell to -16.1 points, as expected, compared to -15.1 points in December. Meanwhile, the economic sentiment indicator fell to 96.2 from 96.3 in December (revised from 96.4). Consensus estimates also suggested a drop to 96.2. The employment expectations indicator fell to 102.5 from 103.3 in December.
As for the EU countries, the economic sentiment indicator rose to 95.9 points from 95.8 points, and the employment expectations indicator fell to 102.1 from 102.8 in December. The sideward trend of the economic sentiment indicator reflected broadly stable confidence in industry, services, retail trade and among consumers, while confidence in construction dropped. Amongst the largest EU economies, the economic sentiment indicator deteriorated markedly in Germany (-2.2), while it improved in Italy (+3.8), Poland (+3.2), France (+2.4), the Netherlands (+1.9) and Spain (+1.4).
The data also showed that the indicator of economic uncertainty fell in January to 20.8 from 21.1 in December, as managers’ uncertainty in industry, retail trade and construction about their future business situation as well as consumers’ uncertainty about their future financial situation decreased. Uncertainty increased only in services.