Eurozone economic sentiment decreases markedly In April

According to the report from European Commission, in April 2019, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) decreased markedly in both the euro area (by 1.6 points to 104.0) and the EU (by 1.5 points to 103.7). The deterioration of euro-area sentiment resulted from lower confidence in industry, retail trade and, to a lesser extent, in construction and among consumers, while confidence remained unchanged in services.

The strong decrease in industry confidence (−2.5) resulted from managers' more pessimistic views on all three components, i.e. production expectations, the current level of overall order books and the stocks of finished products.

The decrease in consumer confidence (−0.7) reflected households’ more pessimistic expectations about their future financial situation and, in particular, the general economic situation, while their assessments of their past financial situation and their intentions to make major purchases remained broadly stable.

The strong decline in retail trade confidence (−1.4) was driven by more negative views on both the present and expected business situation, while retailers’ assessment of the adequacy of the volume of stocks remained broadly stable.

Decreasing construction confidence (−0.8) reflected managers' more pessimistic employment expectations, while their assessment of the level of order books improved.