Euro Area: Economic sentiment falls in March
Latest reading: Economic sentiment came in at 95.2 in March, down from February’s 96.3. Accordingly, the index remained below the long-term average of 100, pointing to a muted near-term outlook for the economy.
The decline was driven by weaker sentiment in the construction, retail and services sectors. Moreover, consumer confidence cooled. On the flip side, sentiment in the industrial sector strengthened.
In terms of specific countries, sentiment worsened in France and Italy, while it was stable in the Netherlands, and improved in Germany and Spain.
Regarding indicators that are not used to calculate the index, employment expectations deteriorated, while the economic uncertainty index fell in March.