Eurozone economic confidence deteriorated for the third consecutive month in March, reversing from a 17-year high in December. According to a survey data from European Commission, the indicator is heading into a period of more moderate growth.
The economic confidence index fell to 112.6 in March from the revised reading of 114.2 in February, marking a six-month low.
Analysts had expected a score of 113.3 compared with the figure of 114.1 reported earlier.
The industrial sentiment index came in at 6.4 from 8.0 a month before. Similarly, the retail trade sentiment declined to 1.6 from 4.5 a month ago.
The services sentiment index fell to 16.3 from 17.6 in the previous month.
The consumer confidence indicator held steady at 0.1 in March.
Meanwhile, the construction sentiment index rose to 5.2 from 4.3 in February.
At the same time, business sentiment index edged down to 1.34 in March from 1.48 in February.
Business activity in 19 eurozone countries grew at the slowest pace since January 2017 in March, preliminary estimate by IHS Markit showed.
The IHS Markit eurozone composite PMI declined to 55.3 in March from 57.1 in the previous month. Euro area services PMI fell to 55 from 56.2, hitting a five-month low.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 56.6, down from 58.6 in the previous month. That was the lowest score over the past eight months.
