RTTN:Eurozone Economic Sentiment Strengthens In May
Eurozone economic confidence strengthened in May, driven by brightening sentiment in all business sectors except for construction, survey results published by the European Commission showed Thursday.
The economic confidence index climbed to 89.4 in May, in line with expectations, from 88.6 in April.
Industrial confidence came in at -13, up from -13.8 a month ago. The indicator gained strength from a much more positive assessment of the current level of overall order books.
Confidence in services improved to -9.3 in May from -11.1. The surge in sentiment results from significantly improved assessments of the past business situation and past demand, as well as to a lesser extent, managers' improved demand expectations.
Retailers' confidence rose to -16.8 from -18.4, driven by sharply improving business expectations, a more positive assessment of the volume of stocks and mildly improving appraisals of the present business situation.
Meanwhile, in construction, confidence fell to -33.6 in May from -31.7. The decline reflected worsened assessment of both order books and employment expectations.
Another survey showed improvement in business confidence after worsening in April. The index came in at -0.76 compared to -1.04 in the previous month.
While production expectations deteriorated slightly, managers' appraisal of the stocks of finished products, order books and past production improved.
