Eurozone economic confidence rises for fourth straight month

Eurozone economic confidence improved for the fourth consecutive month in August, survey data from the European Commission showed Friday.
The corresponding index climbed to 95.2 from 92.5 in July. The reading was above the consensus 93.8.
The strong increase resulted from pronounced improvements in confidence among consumers and managers in industry, services and retail trade.
Fueled by managers' much more positive assessment of the current level of overall order books and production expectations, confidence in industry rose to -7.9 in August from -10.6 in the prior month.
Similarly, confidence among service providers improved to -5.3 from -7.8. The improvement was driven by a sharp rise in managers' assessment of the past business situation and important improvements concerning past demand and demand expectations.
Consumer confidence continued its upward trend that started in December 2012. Consumer sentiment rose to -15.6 from -17.4 in July, thanks to more optimistic views on the future general economic situation.
Retailers' sentiment rose to -10.7 in August from -14 a month ago. Managers were particularly more confident about the future business situation. Also their assessments of the present business situation and their volume of stocks improved markedly.
However, confidence in construction weakened to -33.5 from -32.6 in July, resulting from managers' worsened assessment of both order books and employment expectations.
The business climate indicator climbed by 0.31 points to -0.21 in August. The assessment of past production, the level of overall order books and production expectations improved sharply.
Also the level of export order books and the stocks of finished products were appraised more positively, survey results showed.