According to the final report from the European Commission, consumer confidence in the eurozone rose slightly in February, confirming economists' forecasts and partially offsetting the January drop.
The consumer confidence index rose to -15.5 points, as expected, compared to -16.1 points in January. Meanwhile, the economic sentiment indicator fell to 95.4 from 96.1 in January (revised from 96.2). Consensus estimates suggested growth to 96.7. The employment expectations indicator rose to 102.5 from 102.3 in January.
As for the EU countries, the economic sentiment indicator decreased to 95.4 points from 95.8 points, and the employment expectations indicator remained unchanged (102.0). The mild decline of the economic sentiment indicator was due to lower confidence among services, retail trade and construction managers, while confidence remained broadly stable in industry and increased slightly among consumers. Amongst the largest EU economies, the ESI deteriorated markedly in Italy (-1.6) and slightly in Germany (-0.6) and Poland (-0.5), while it improved strongly in the Netherlands (+1.7) and remained broadly stable in France (-0.3) and Spain (-0.2).
The data also showed that the indicator of economic uncertainty fell in February to 19.6 from 20.7 in January, as managers’ uncertainty about their future business situation in industry, services, and retail trade declined. By contrast, uncertainty by construction managers about their future business situation and by consumers about their future financial situation increased.