LONDON—Manufacturers and construction companies in the 17 countries that use the euro were more downbeat about their prospects in March, although consumers were slightly more upbeat.
The European Commission Thursday said its economic confidence indicator for the currency area fell to 94.4 from 94.5 in February, the first decline since December. That was driven by large declines in confidence in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, although offset by pickups in Italy and France.
The weakening of confidence, albeit small, suggests that the euro-zone economy won't soon recover, having contracted in the final three months of last year. The Commission last month said it expected the currency area to experience a shallow recession but start to grow again later this year.
The Commission's measure of confidence among manufacturers fell to minus 7.2 from minus 5.7, despite a slight improvement in export orders.
"Confidence in industry worsened markedly," the Commission said. "Managers' assessment of their companies' past production and current level of order books deteriorated."
A separate measure of the conditions facing manufacturers—the Business Climate Index—also fell, to minus 0.30 from minus 0.16, its first drop since November.
Confidence among retailers and service providers strengthened, while confidence among construction companies weakened.
As indicated by a preliminary measure released last week, consumers became less pessimistic in March, with the Commission's headline measure rising to minus 19.1 from minus 20.3 in February.
The decline in pessimism was driven by a less gloomy assessment of the outlook for the economy and the jobs market.
