2021.11.2910:19:00UTC+00Eurozone Economic Confidence At 6-Month Low

Eurozone economic confidence weakened to a six-month low in November largely due to the deterioration in consumer sentiment, survey results from the European Commission showed Monday.

The economic sentiment index fell to 117.5 in November, in line with expectations, from 118.6 in the previous month. This was the lowest score since May.

The weakness in overall confidence was driven by a marked decline in consumer confidence, while sentiment remained broadly unchanged in industry and services and improved in retail trade and construction.

The industrial sentiment indicator came in at 14.1, down slightly from October's 14.2. The expected level was 13.9.

At the same time, the services confidence index rose to 18.4 from 18.0 a month ago. Economists had forecast the index to fall to 16.6.

By contrast, the consumer confidence indicator declined to -6.8 from -4.8 in the previous month. The score matched the preliminary estimate.

On the other hand, confidence among retailers improved in November, with the index rising to 3.7 from 1.9 in October. The sentiment index in the construction sector rose to 9.0 from 8.6 a month ago.

The employment expectations indicator increased further to 115.6 points in both regions, reaching its highest level since January 2018.

Another data from EU showed that the business confidence index rose to 1.80 in November from 1.75 in October.

Despite the slight deterioration on the month, November's EC business and consumer survey showed that economic sentiment in the euro-zone was high before the recent news about the Omicron variant, Jack Allen-Reynolds, an economist at Capital Economics, said.