Economic sentiment in the Eurozone climbed to a three-month peak in March. This boost was primarily due to enhancements across all sectors, excluding construction, as highlighted by research data from the European Commission released on Wednesday.
The economic sentiment index rose to 96.3 in March, which matched expectations, up from 95.5 just a month earlier. The index of industrial confidence witnessed an increase from -9.4 in February, to -8.8 in March. This change reflected a weakening in managers' manufacturing anticipations and a decrease in the number of managers who perceived stocks of completed goods as excessive or above average.
The services confidence index displayed an improvement, elevating from 6.0 a month earlier, to 6.3 in March, owing to increased demand expectations among managers. Consumer confidence also continued its revival due to an optimistic outlook related to past and future financial conditions at the household level and slightly less negative expectations about the overall economic scenario.
The consumer sentiment index registered -14.9 in March, which was an increase from -15.5 in February. This reading mirrored the initial estimate and was also the highest since February 2022.
The retailers' confidence index improved to -5.7 from -6.6, powered by more positive evaluations of past business conditions and better views on the appropriateness of stock volume. Meanwhile, the construction sentiment index experienced a minor dip from -5.5 to -5.6. The survey indicated a slight increase in employment expectations among builders, although their evaluations of the level of order books remained largely unchanged.
In March, the Employment Expectations Indicator remained almost unchanged at 102.6, which was still above its long-term average.
Finally, the survey indicated a significant drop in selling price expectations within the retail trade, construction, and services sectors. However, it revealed a slight increase in prices in the industry sector.
