EU sentiment falls as industry confidence improves

Economic sentiment and employment expectations both declined in the EU and euro area during September, moving further below their long-term averages. The European Commission’s latest survey results put the EU economic sentiment indicator at 97.9, down 0.4 points from August.

The aggregate decline reflected weaker consumer confidence, while industry confidence rose by one point as production expectations and assessments of overall order books improved. Construction confidence also increased, although services and retail trade were broadly stable.

Employment expectations declined as weaker hiring plans in retail and services outweighed firmer plans in construction and industry. The Commission noted that Italian consumer-survey results were excluded because of a structural break, meaning the Italian consumer data were not included in the EU and euro-area aggregates.